Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs) have the potential to explore and monitor oceans in unprecedented ways, but their present batteries only allow them to operate for days at a time. A team of students designed and built a ...

Microthin sheet technology is disclosed by which superior batteries are constructed which, among other things, accommodate the requirements for high load rapid discharge and recharge, mandated by electric vehicle criteria. The microthin sheet technology has process and article overtones and can be used to form thin electrodes used in batteries of various kinds and types, such as spirally-wound batteries, bipolar batteries, lead acid batteries, silver/zinc batteries, and others. Superior high performance battery features include: (a) minimal ionic resistance; (b) minimal electronic resistance; (c) minimal polarization resistance to both charging and discharging; (d) improved current accessibility to active material of the electrodes; (e) a high surface area to volume ratio; (f) high electrode porosity (microporosity); (g) longer life cycle; (h) superior discharge/recharge characteristics; (j) higher capacities (A.multidot.hr); and k) high specific capacitance.

Microthin sheet technology is disclosed by which superior batteries are constructed which, among other things, accommodate the requirements for high load rapid discharge and recharge, mandated by electric vehicle criteria. The microthin sheet technology has process and article overtones and can be used to form corrugated thin electrodes used in batteries of various kinds and types, such as spirally-wound batteries, bipolar batteries, lead acid batteries, silver/zinc batteries, and others. Superior high performance battery features include: (a) minimal ionic resistance; (b) minimal electronic resistance; (c) minimal polarization resistance to both charging and discharging; (d) improved current accessibility to active material of the electrodes; (e) a high surface area to volume ratio; (f) high electrode porosity (microporosity); (g) longer life cycle; (h) superior discharge/recharge characteristics; (i) higher capacities (A.multidot.hr); and (j) high specific capacitance.

As Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (EVs and HEVs) become more prevalent, there is a need to change the powersource from gasoline on the vehicle to electricity from the grid in order to mitigate requirements for onboard energy storage (battery weight) as well as to reduce dependency on oil by increasing dependency on the grid (our coal, gas, and renewable energy instead of their oil). Traditional systems for trains and buses rely on physical contact to transfer electrical energy to vehicles in motion. Until recently, conventional magnetically coupled systems required a gap of less than a centimeter. This is not practical for vehicles of the future.

Vehicle-to-Grid Power: Battery, Hybrid, and Fuel Cell Vehicles as Resources for Distributed, and fuel cell. Battery EDVs can store electricity, charging during low demand times and discharging when power is scarce and prices are high. Fuel cell and hybrid EDVs are sources of new power generation

i Vehicle-to-Grid Power: Battery, Hybrid, and Fuel Cell Vehicles as Resources for Distributed more robust. This report analyzes V2G power from three types of EDVs--battery, hybrid, and fuel cell and prices are high. Fuel cell and hybrid EDVs are sources of new power generation. For economic reasons

The goal of this research is to quantify diesel- and gasoline-powered motor vehicle emissions within the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) using on-road measurements captured by a mobile laboratory combined with positive ...

A power system is provided having at least one traction device and a primary powersource configured to power the at least one traction device. In addition, the power system includes an auxiliary powersource also configured to power the at least one traction device.

The six-step methodology presented in this paper can be applied to nuclear power reactors to provide protection measures and considerations against vehicle bomb threats. The methodology provides a structured framework for examining the potential vulnerability of a plant to a postulated vehicle bomb and for developing contingency planning strategies for dealing with such a possibility. The six steps are as follows: (1) identify system options available to establish and maintain a safe reactor shutdown; (2) identify buildings or other structures containing critical components and equipment associated with each system option; (3) determine survival envelopes for the system options; (4) review site features to determine vehicle access approach paths and distances as they relate to the survival envelopes; (5) identify measures to limit or thwart vehicle access, and protect and preserve preferred system options; (6) prepare contingency plans and make advance arrangements for implementation of contingency measures for a vehicle bomb attack. Portions of this methodology related to blast effects from vehicle bombs on power reactor components are implemented using BombCAD, a proprietary computer-aided design (CAD)-based blast effects analysis technique.

A hybrid vehicle powertrain system includes a first prime mover, a first prime mover driven power transmission mechanism having a power take-off adapted to drive a vehicle accessory, and a second prime mover. The second prime mover is operable to drive the power transmission mechanism alone or in combination with the first prime mover to provide power to the power take-off through the power transmission mechanism. The invention further includes methods for operating a hybrid vehicle powertrain system.

A power system that provides power between an energy storage device, an external charging-source/load, an onboard electrical power generator, and a vehicle drive shaft. The power system has at least one energy storage device electrically connected across a dc bus, at least one filter capacitor leg having at least one filter capacitor electrically connected across the dc bus, at least one power inverter/converter electrically connected across the dc bus, and at least one multiphase motor/generator having stator windings electrically connected at one end to form a neutral point and electrically connected on the other end to one of the power inverter/converters. A charging-sourcing selection socket is electrically connected to the neutral points and the external charging-source/load. At least one electronics controller is electrically connected to the charging-sourcing selection socket and at least one power inverter/converter. The switch legs in each of the inverter/converters selected by the charging-source/load socket collectively function as a single switch leg. The motor/generators function as an inductor.

Passenger vehicles and power plants are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. While economic analyses generally indicate that a broader market-based approach to greenhouse gas reduction would be less costly and more ...

1 J. PowerSources, in press (1998) The Use of Computer Simulation in the Evaluation of Electric conventional ICÂ­engine automobiles with electric vehicles (EVs) powered by rechargeable batteries. However to that of a conventional ICÂ­engine poweredvehicle; (2) a high specific power for accelerating and hill

1 J. PowerSources, in press (1998) The Use of Computer Simulation in the Evaluation of Electric conventional IC-engine automobiles with electric vehicles (EVs) powered by rechargeable batteries. However to that of a conventional IC-engine poweredvehicle; (2) a high specific power for accelerating and hill

This presentation discusses current research at NREL on advanced wireless power transfer vehicle and infrastructure analysis. The potential benefits of E-roadway include more electrified driving miles from battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or even properly equipped hybrid electric vehicles (i.e., more electrified miles could be obtained from a given battery size, or electrified driving miles could be maintained while using smaller and less expensive batteries, thereby increasing cost competitiveness and potential market penetration). The system optimization aspect is key given the potential impact of this technology on the vehicles, the power grid and the road infrastructure.

A hybrid power system is comprised of a high energy density element such as a fuel-cell and high power density elements such as a supercapacitor banks. A DC/DC converter electrically connected to the fuel cell and converting the energy level of the energy supplied by the fuel cell. A first switch is electrically connected to the DC/DC converter. First and second supercapacitors are electrically connected to the first switch and a second switch. A controller is connected to the first switch and the second switch, monitoring charge levels of the supercapacitors and controls the switching in response to the charge levels. A load is electrically connected to the second switch. The first switch connects the DC/DC converter to the first supercapacitor when the second switch connects the second supercapacitor to the load. The first switch connects the DC/DC converter to the second supercapacitor when the second switch connects the first supercapacitor to the load.

To help determine the systems requirements for a 300-kWe space nuclear reactor power system, a mission and spacecraft have been examined which utilize electric propulsion and this nuclear reactor power for multiple transfers of cargo between low Earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). A propulsion system employing ion thrusters and xenon propellant was selected. Propellant and thrusters are replaced after each sortie to GEO. The mass of the Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV), empty and dry, is 11,000 kg; nominal propellant load is 5000 kg. The OTV operates between a circular orbit at 925 km altitude, 28.5 deg inclination, and GEO. Cargo is brought to the OTV by Shuttle and an Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV); the OTV then takes it to GEO. The OTV can also bring cargo back from GEO, for transfer by OMV to the Shuttle. OTV propellant is resupplied and the ion thrusters are replaced by the OMV before each trip to GEO. At the end of mission life, the OTV's electric propulsion is used to place it in a heliocentric orbit so that the reactor will not return to Earth. The nominal cargo capability to GEO is 6000 kg with a transit time of 120 days; 1350 kg can be transferred in 90 days, and 14,300 kg in 240 days. These capabilities can be considerably increased by using separate Shuttle launches to bring up propellant and cargo, or by changing to mercury propellant.

Fast Photovoltaic Array Reconfiguration for Partial Solar PoweredVehicles Jaemin Kim1 , Yanzhi during cruising using innovative fast photovoltaic array (PV) reconfiguration. Use of all the vehicle sur to install more PV modules, but it also results in severe performance degradation due to inherent partial

Unburned lubricant produces 60%-90% of organic carbon emissions. While diesel fuel is often viewed as the most polluting of conventional petroleum-based fuels, emissions from gasoline engines can more significantly degrade air quality. Gasoline exhaust is at least as toxic on a per-unit-mass basis as diesel exhaust, and contributes up to 10 times more particulate matter (PM) to the emission inventory. Because emissions from both fuels can gravely impact health and the environment, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) launched a study to understand how these pollutants relate to fuels, lubricants, and engine operating conditions. NREL's Collaborative Lubricating Oil Study on Emissions (CLOSE) project tested a variety of vehicles over different drive cycles at moderate (72 F) and cold (20 F) temperatures. Testing included: (1) Normal and high-emitting light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles; (2) Gasoline, diesel, and compressed natural gas (CNG)-poweredvehicles; (3) New and aged lubricants representative of those currently on the market; and (4) Gasoline containing no ethanol, E10, Texas-mandated low-emission diesel fuel, biodiesel, and CNG. The study confirmed that normally functioning emission control systems for gasoline light-duty vehicles are very effective at controlling organic carbon (OC) emissions. Diesel vehicles without aftertreatment emission control systems exhibited OC emissions approximately one order of magnitude higher than gasoline vehicles. High-emitter gasoline vehicles produced OC emissions similar to diesel vehicles without exhaust aftertreatment emission control. Exhaust catalysts combusted or converted more than 75% of lubricating oil components in the exhaust gases. Unburned crankcase lubricant made up 60%-90% of OC emissions. This OC represented 20%-50% of emitted PM in all but two of the vehicles. Three-way catalysts proved effective at reducing most of the OC. With high PM emitters or vehicles with deteriorated aftertreatment, high-molecular-weight fuel components and unburned lubricant were emitted at higher rates than in vehicles in good repair, with functioning emissions systems. Light-duty gasoline, medium-duty diesel, and heavy-duty natural gas vehicles produced more particles with fresh oil than with aged oil. The opposite trend was observed in light- and medium-duty high PM emitters. This effect was not readily apparent with heavy-duty diesel vehicles, perhaps because the lubricant represented a much smaller fraction of the total PM in those trucks.

Computer programs for the simulation of the operation of electric vehicles with hybrid power systems are described. These programs treat cases in which high energy density ultracapacitors or high power density pulse batteries are used to load level the main energy storage battery in the vehicle. A generalized control strategy for splitting the power between the main battery and the pulse power devices is implemented such that the user can specify the nominal battery power as a function of the state-of-charge of the ultracapacitor or pulse power battery. The programs display graphically on the screen, as they run, the power from both the main battery and the pulse power device and the state-of-charge of the pulse power device. After each run is completed, a summary is printed out from which the effect of load leveling the battery on vehicle range and energy consumption can be determined. Default input files are provided with the programs so various combinations of vehicles, driveline components, and batteries of special current interest to the EV community can be run with either type of pulse power device. Typical simulation results are shown including cases in which the pulse power devices are connected in parallel with the main battery without interface electronics. 2 refs., 7 figs., 14 tabs.

Commonly used EV battery tests are not very suitable for testing hybrid vehicle batteries, which may be primarily intended to supply vehicle acceleration power. The capacity of hybrid vehicle batteries will be relatively small, they will typically operate over a restricted range of states-of-charge, and they may seldom if ever be fully recharged. Further, hybrid propulsion system designs will commonly impose a higher regeneration content than is typical for electric vehicles. New test methods have been developed for use in characterizing battery performance and life for hybrid vehicle use. The procedures described in this paper were developed from the requirements of the government-industry cooperative Partnership for A New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program; however, they are expected to have broad application to the testing of energy storage devices for hybrid vehicles. The most important performance measure for a high power battery is its pulse power capability as a function of state-of-charge for both discharge and regeneration pulses. It is also important to characterize cycle life, although the {open_quote}cycles{close_quote} involved are quite different from the conventional full-discharge, full-recharge cycle commonly used for EV batteries, This paper illustrates in detail several test profiles which have been selected for PNGV battery testing, along with some sample results and lessons learned to date from the use of these test profiles. The relationship between the PNGV energy storage requirements and these tests is described so that application of the test methods can be made to other hybrid vehicle performance requirements as well. The resulting test procedures can be used to characterize the pulse power capability of high power energy storage devices including batteries and ultracapacitors, as well as the life expectancy of such devices, for either power assist or dual mode hybrid propulsion system designs.

This report provides an overview of recent advances in portable electric powersource (PEPS) technology and an assessment of emerging PEPS technologies that may meet US Special Operations Command`s (SOCOM) needs in the next 1--2- and 3--5-year time frames. The assessment was performed through a literature search and interviews with experts in various laboratories and companies. Nineteen PEPS technologies were reviewed and characterized as (1) PEPSs that meet SOCOM requirements; (2) PEPSs that could fulfill requirements for special field conditions and locations; (3) potentially high-payoff sources that require additional R and D; and (4) sources unlikely to meet present SOCOM requirements. 6 figs., 10 tabs.

innovati nNREL Helps Cool the Power Electronics in Electric Vehicles Researchers at the National for cooling power electronics devices in hybrid and electric vehicles. In collaboration with 3M and Wolverine vehicles. Widespread use of advanced electric-drive vehicles--including electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid

Many international border crossings presently screen cargo for illicit nuclear material using radiation portal monitors that measure the gamma ray and/or neutron flux emitted by vehicles. The fact that many target sources have a point-like geometry can be exploited to detect sub-threshold sources and filter out benign sources that frequently possess a distributed geometry. This report describes a two-step process, which has the potential to complement other alarm algorithms, for detecting and characterizing point sources. The first step applies a matched filter whereas step two uses maximum likelihood estimation. In a base-case simulation, matched filtering detected a 250-cps source injected onto a white-noise background at a 95-percent detection probability and a 0.003 false alarm probability. For the same simulation, the probability of success for the maximum likelihood estimation technique performed well at source strengths of 250 and 400 cps. These simulations provided a best-case feasibility study for this technique, which will be extended to experimental data that possess false point-source signatures resulting from background shielding caused by vehicle design and cargo distribution.

Reliable power supplies for use in transportation and remote systems will be an important part of space exploration terrestrial activities. A potential powersource is available in the rare earth metal, thulium. Fuel sources can be produced by activating Tm-169 targets in the space station reactor. The resulting Tm-170 heat sources can be used in thermoelectric generators to power instrumentation and telecommunications located at remote sites such as weather stations. As the heat source in a dynamic Sterling or Brayton cycle system, the heat source can provide a lightweight powersource for rovers or other terrestrial transportation systems.

A traffic-assignment-based framework is proposed to model the coupling of transportation network and power grid for analyzing impacts of energy demand from electric vehicles on the operation of power distribution. Although the reverse can be investigated with the proposed framework as well, electricity flowing from a power grid to electric vehicles is the focus of this paper. Major variables in transportation network (including link flows) and power grid (including electricity transmitted) are introduced for the coupling. Roles of charging-in-motion technology and connected vehicle technology have been identified in the framework of supernetwork. A linkage (i.e. individual energy demand) between the two networks is defined to construct the supernetwork. To determine equilibrium of the supernetwork can also answer how many drivers are going to use the charging-in-motion services, in which locations, and at what time frame. An optimal operation plan of power distribution will be decided along the determination simultaneously by which we have a picture about what level of power demand from the grid is expected in locations during an analyzed period. Caveat of the framework and possible applications have also been discussed.

A Power Presizing Methodology for Electric Vehicle Traction Motors Bekheira Tabbache1,2 , Sofiane for presizing the power of an electric vehicle traction motor. Based on the vehicle desired performances methodology is validated through extensive simulations for different induction motor-based electric vehicles

an important role in the success of electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. Typical power electronics circuits/DC converter; electric drives; electric vehicles; fuel cell; hybrid electric vehicles; power electronics, motor for fuel cells and advanced heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles. He also has experience with alternative

Discrimination of benign sources from threat sources at Port of Entries (POE) is of a great importance in efficient screening of cargo and vehicles using Radiation Portal Monitors (RPM). Currently RPM's ability to distinguish these radiological sources is seriously hampered by the energy resolution of the deployed RPMs. As naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) are ubiquitous in commerce, false alarms are problematic as they require additional resources in secondary inspection in addition to impacts on commerce. To increase the sensitivity of such detection systems without increasing false alarm rates, alarm metrics need to incorporate the ability to distinguish benign and threat sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) and clustering technique were implemented in the present study. Such techniques were investigated for their potential to lower false alarm rates and/or increase sensitivity to weaker threat sources without loss of specificity. Results of the investigation demonstrated improved sensitivity and specificity in discriminating benign sources from threat sources.

Develop a fuelcell mine locomotive with metal-hydride hydrogen storage. Test the locomotive for fundamental limitations preventing successful commercialization of hydride fuelcells in underground mining. During Phase 1 of the DOE-EERE sponsored project, FPI and its partner SNL, completed work on the development of a 14.4 kW fuelcell power plant and metal-hydride energy storage. An existing battery-electric locomotive with similar power requirements, minus the battery module, was used as the base vehicle. In March 2001, Atlas Copco Wagner of Portland, OR, installed the fuelcell power plant into the base vehicle and initiated integration of the system into the vehicle. The entire vehicle returned to Sandia in May 2001 for further development and integration. Initial system power-up took place in December 2001. A revision to the original contract, Phase 2, at the request of DOE Golden Field Office, established Vehicle Projects LLC as the new prime contractor,. Phase 2 allowed industry partners to conduct surface tests, incorporate enhancements to the original design by SNL, perform an extensive risk and safety analysis, and test the fuelcell locomotive underground under representative production mine conditions. During the surface tests one of the fuelcell stacks exhibited reduced power output resulting in having to replace both fuelcell stacks. The new stacks were manufactured with new and improved technology resulting in an increase of the gross power output from 14.4 kW to 17 kW. Further work by CANMET and Hatch Associates, an engineering consulting firm specializing in safety analysis for the mining industry, both under subcontract to Vehicle Projects LLC, established minimum requirements for underground testing. CANMET upgraded the Programmable Logic Control (PLC) software used to monitor and control the fuelcell power plant, taking into account locomotive operator's needs. Battery Electric, a South Africa manufacturer, designed and manufactured (at no cost to the project) a new motor controller capable of operating the higher rpm motor and different power characteristics of the fuelcells. In early August 2002, CANMET, with the technical assistance of Nuvera Fuel Cells and Battery Electric, installed the new PLC software, installed the new motor controller, and installed the new fuelcell stacks. After minor adjustments, the fuelcell locomotive pulled its first fully loaded ore cars on a surface track. The fuelcell-powered locomotive easily matched the battery powered equivalent in its ability to pull tonnage and equaled the battery-powered locomotive in acceleration. The final task of Phase 2, testing the locomotive underground in a production environment, occurred in early October 2002 in a gold mine. All regulatory requirements to allow the locomotive underground were completed and signed off by Hatch Associates prior to going underground. During the production tests, the locomotive performed flawlessly with no failures or downtime. The actual tests occurred during a 2-week period and involved moving both gold ore and waste rock over a 1,000 meter track. Refueling, or recharging, of the metal-hydride storage took place on the surface. After each shift, the metal-hydride storage module was removed from the locomotive, transported to surface, and filled with hydrogen from high-pressure tanks. The beginning of each shift started with taking the fully recharged metal-hydride storage module down into the mine and re-installing it onto the locomotive. Each 8 hour shift consumed approximately one half to two thirds of the onboard hydrogen. This indicates that the fuelcell-powered locomotive can work longer than a similar battery-powered locomotive, which operates about 6 hours, before needing a recharge.

BATTERY-POWERED, ELECTRIC-DRIVE VEHICLES PROVIDING BUFFER STORAGE FOR PV CAPACITY VALUE Steven, however, the use of batteries from parked electric- drive vehicles (EDV) to provide buffer storage for PV requirements that will result in a number of new battery-powered electric drive vehicles being sold beginning

Distributing Power to Electric Vehicles on a Smart Grid Yingjie Zhou*, , Student Member, IEEE.edu Abstract--Electric vehicles create a demand for additional electrical power. As the popularity of electric. However, in the interim the rate at which electric vehicles can be deployed will depend on our ability

Quiet, clean, and efficient, electric vehicles (EVs) may someday become a practical mode of transportation for the general public. Electric vehicles can provide many advantages for the nation's environment and energy supply because they run on electricity, which can be produced from many sources of energy such as coal, natural gas, uranium, and hydropower. These vehicles offer fuel versatility to the transportation sector, which depends almost solely on oil for its energy needs. Electric vehicles are any mode of transportation operated by a motor that receives electricity from a battery or fuel cell. EVs come in all shapes and sizes and may be used for different tasks. Some EVs are small and simple, such as golf carts and electric wheel chairs. Others are larger and more complex, such as automobile and vans. Some EVs, such as fork lifts, are used in industries. In this fact sheet, we will discuss mostly automobiles and vans. There are also variations on electric vehicles, such as hybrid vehicles and solar-poweredvehicles. Hybrid vehicles use electricity as their primary source of energy, however, they also use a backup source of energy, such as gasoline, methanol or ethanol. Solar-poweredvehicles are electric vehicles that use photovoltaic cells (cells that convert solar energy to electricity) rather than utility-supplied electricity to recharge the batteries. This paper discusses these concepts.

Many states are deploying renewable generation sources at a significant rate to meet renewable portfolio standards. As part of this drive to meet renewable generation levels, significant additions of wind generation are planned. Due to the highly variable nature of wind generation, significant energy imbalances on the power system can be created and need to be handled. This report examines the impact on the Northwest Power Pool (NWPP) region for a 2019 expected wind scenario. One method for mitigating these imbalances is to utilize plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) or battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as assets to the grid. PHEVs and BEVs have the potential to meet this demand through both charging and discharging strategies. This report explores the usage of two different charging schemes: V2GHalf and V2GFull. In V2GHalf, PHEV/BEV charging is varied to absorb the additional imbalance from the wind generation, but never feeds power back into the grid. This scenario is highly desirable to automotive manufacturers, who harbor great concerns about battery warranty if vehicle-to-grid discharging is allowed. The second strategy, V2GFull, varies not only the charging of the vehicle battery, but also can vary the discharging of the battery back into the power grid. This scenario is currently less desirable to automotive manufacturers, but provides an additional resource benefit to PHEV/BEVs in meeting the additional imbalance imposed by wind. Key findings in the report relate to the PHEV/BEV population required to meet the additional imbalance when comparing V2GHalf to V2GFull populations, and when comparing home-only-charging and work-and-home-charging scenarios. Utilizing V2GFull strategies over V2GHalf resulted in a nearly 33% reduction in the number of vehicles required. This reduction indicates fewer vehicles are needed to meet the unhandled energy, but they would utilize discharging of the vehicle battery into the grid. This practice currently results in the voiding of automotive manufacturer's battery warranty, and is not feasible for many customers. The second key finding is the change in the required population when PHEV/BEV charging is available at both home and work. Allowing 10% of the vehicle population access to work charging resulted in nearly 80% of the grid benefit. Home-only charging requires, at best, 94% of the current NWPP light duty vehicle fleet to be a PHEV or BEV. With the introduction of full work charging availability, only 8% of the NWPP light duty vehicle fleet is required. Work charging has primarily been associated with mitigating range anxiety in new electric vehicle owners, but these studies indicate they have significant potential for improving grid reliability. The V2GHalf and V2GFull charging strategies of the report utilize grid frequency as an indication of the imbalance requirements. The introduction of public charging stations, as well as the potential for PHEV/BEVs to be used as a resource for renewable generation integration, creates conditions for additional products into the ancillary services market. In the United Kingdom, such a capability would be bid as a frequency product in the ancillary services market. Such a market could create the need for larger, third-party aggregators or services to manage the use of electric vehicles as a grid resource. Ultimately, customer adoption, usage patterns and habits, and feedback from the power and automotive industries will drive the need.

This manual provides a simplified procedure for selecting land vehicle barriers that will stop the design basis vehicle threat adopted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Proper selection and construction of vehicle barriers should prevent intrusion of the design basis vehicle. In addition, vital safety related equipment should survive a design basis vehicle bomb attack when vehicle barriers are properly selected, sited, and constructed. This manual addresses passive vehicle barriers, active vehicle barriers, and site design features that can be used to reduce vehicle impact velocity.

A miniature thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) device for generation of electrical power for use in portable electronic devices. A TPV powersource is constructed to provide a heat source chemical reactor capable of using various fuels, such as liquid hydrocarbons, including but not limited to propane, LPG, butane, alcohols, oils and diesel fuels to generate a source of photons. A reflector dish guides misdirected photon energy from the photon source toward a photovoltaic array. A thin transparent protector sheet is disposed between the photon source and the array to reflect back thermal energy that cannot be converted to electricity, and protect the array from thermal damage. A microlens disposed between the protector sheet and the array further focuses the tailored band of photon energy from the photon source onto an array of photovoltaic cells, whereby the photon energy is converted to electrical power. A heat recuperator removes thermal energy from reactor chamber exhaust gases, preferably using mini- or micro-bellows to force air and fuel past the exhaust gases, and uses the energy to preheat the fuel and oxidant before it reaches the reactor, increasing system efficiency. Mini- or micro-bellows force ambient air through the system both to supply oxidant and to provide cooling. Finally, an insulator, which is preferably a super insulator, is disposed around the TPV powersource to reduce fuel consumption, and to keep the TPV powersource cool to the touch so it can be used in hand-held devices.

This paper studied a novel problem in power system restoration: the Power Restoration Vehicle Routing Problem (PRVRP). The goal of PRVRPs is to decide how coordinate repair crews effectively in order to recover from blackouts as fast as possible after a disaster has occurred. PRVRPs are complex problems that combine vehicle routing and power restoration scheduling problems. The paper proposed a multi-stage optimization algorithm based on the idea of constraint injection that meets the aggressive runtime constraints necessary for disaster recovery. The algorithms were validated on benchmarks produced by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, using the infrastructure of the United States. The disaster scenarios were generated by state-of-the-art hurricane simulation tools similar to those used by the National Hurricane Center. Experimental results show that the constraint-injection algorithms can reduce the blackouts by 50% or more over field practices. Moreover, the results show that the constraint-injection algorithm using large neighborhood search over a blackbox simulator provide competitive quality and scales better than using a MIP solver on the subproblems.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently received a Borrego fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) on loan from Kia for display at a variety of summer events. The Borrego is fueled using renewable hydrogen that is produced and dispensed at NREL's National Wind Technology Center near Boulder, Colorado. The hydrogen dispensed at the station is produced via renewable electrolysis as part of the wind-to-hydrogen project, which uses wind turbines and photovoltaic arrays to power electrolyzer stacks that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The FCEV features state-of-the-art technology with zero harmful emissions.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently received a Borrego fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) on loan from Kia for display at a variety of summer events. The Borrego is fueled using renewable hydrogen that is produced and dispensed at NREL's National Wind Technology Center near Boulder, Colorado. The hydrogen dispensed at the station is produced via renewable electrolysis as part of the wind-to-hydrogen project, which uses wind turbines and photovoltaic arrays to power electrolyzer stacks that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The FCEV features state-of-the-art technology with zero harmful emissions.

A compact powersource that combines an organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) electric generator with a nuclear reactor heat source is being designed and fabricated. Incorporating existing ORC technology with proven reactor technology, the compact reactor/ORC powersource offers high reliability while minimizing the need for component development. Thermal power at 125 kWt is removed from the coated particle fueled, graphite moderated reactor by heat pipes operating at 500/sup 0/C. Outside the reactor vessel and connected to the heat pipes are vaporizers in which the toluene ORC working fluid is heated to 370/sup 0/C. In the turbine-alternator-pump (TAP) combined-rotating unit, the thermal energy of the toluene is converted to 25 kWe of electric power. Lumped parameter systems analyses combined with a finite element thermal analysis have aided in the powersource design. The analyses have provided assurance of reliable multiyear normal operation as well as full power operation with upset conditions, such as failed heat pipes and inoperative ORC vaporizers. Because of inherent high reliability, long life, and insensitivity to upset conditions, this powersource is especially suited for use in remote, inaccessible locations where fuel delivery and maintenance costs are high. 10 refs.

Apparatus for conditioning power generated by an energy source includes an inverter for converting a DC input voltage from the energy source to a square wave AC output voltage, and a converter for converting the AC output voltage from the inverter to a sine wave AC output voltage.

The Department of Energy's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), already the world's most powerful facility for pulsed neutron scattering science, is now the first pulsed spallation neutron source to break the one-megawatt barrier. "Advances in the materials sciences are fundamental to the development of clean and sustainable energy technologies. In reaching this milestone of operating power, the Spallation Neutron Source is providing scientists with an unmatched resource for unlocking the secrets of materials at the molecular level," said Dr. William F. Brinkman, Director of DOE's Office of Science.

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) comprise a rapidly expanding research field with potential applications varying from sensors in airbags to more recent optical applications. Depending on the application, these devices often require an on-board powersource for remote operation, especially in cases requiring operation for an extended period of time. Previously suggested powersources include fossil fuels and solar energy, but nuclear powersources may provide significant advantages for certain applications. Hence, the objective of this study is to establish the viability of using radioisotopes to power realistic MEMS devices. A junction-type battery was constructed using silicon and a {sup 63}Ni liquid source. A source volume containing 64 {micro}Ci provided a power of {approx}0.07 nW. A more novel application of nuclear sources for MEMS applications involves the creation of a resonator that is driven by charge collection in a cantilever beam. Preliminary results have established the feasibility of this concept, and future work will optimize the design for various applications.

Following a hot or cold thermal soak, vehicle climate control systems (air conditioning or heat) are required to quickly attain a cabin temperature comfortable to the vehicle occupants. In a plug-in hybrid electric or electric vehicle (PEV) equipped with electric climate control systems, the traction battery is the sole on-board powersource. Depleting the battery for immediate climate control results in reduced charge-depleting (CD) range and additional battery wear. PEV cabin and battery thermal preconditioning using off-board power supplied by the grid or a building can mitigate the impacts of climate control. This analysis shows that climate control loads can reduce CD range up to 35%. However, cabin thermal preconditioning can increase CD range up to 19% when compared to no thermal preconditioning. In addition, this analysis shows that while battery capacity loss over time is driven by ambient temperature rather than climate control loads, concurrent battery thermal preconditioning can reduce capacity loss up to 7% by reducing pack temperature in a high ambient temperature scenario.

A vehicle comprises a plurality of wheels attached to a vehicle housing. Also attached to the vehicle housing is a power steering system, including a fluid flow circuit, which is operably coupled to a number of the wheels. An internal combustion engine attached to the vehicle housing is connected to a hydraulically actuated system that includes a high pressure pump. An outlet of the high pressure pump is in fluid communication with the fluid flow circuit.

Battery powered transmitters face energy constraint, replenishing their energy by a renewable energy source (like solar or wind power) can lead to longer lifetime. We consider here the problem of finding the optimal power allocation under random channel conditions for a wireless transmitter, such that rate of information transfer is maximized. Here a rechargeable battery, which is periodically charged by renewable source, is used to power the transmitter. All of above is formulated as a Markov Decision Process. Structural properties like the monotonicity of the optimal value and policy derived in this paper will be of vital importance in understanding the kind of algorithms and approximations needed in real-life scenarios. The effect of curse of dimensionality which is prevalent in Dynamic programming problems can thus be reduced. We show our results under the most general of assumptions.

In order to maintain a reasonable over-all length at high center-of-mass energy, the main linac of an electron-positron linear collider must operate at a high accelerating gradient. For copper (non-superconducting) accelerator structures, this implies a high peak power per unit length and a high peak power per RF source, assuming a limited number of discrete sources are used. To provide this power, a number of devices are currently under active development or conceptual consideration: conventional klystrons with multi-cavity output structures, gyroklystrons, magnicons, sheet-beam klystrons, multiple-beam klystrons and amplifiers based on the FEL principle. To enhance the peak power produced by an rf source, the SLED rf pulse compression scheme is currently in use on existing linacs, and new compression methods that produce a flatter output pulse are being considered for future linear colliders. This paper covers the present status and future outlook for the more important rf powersources and pulse compression systems. It should be noted that high gradient electron linacs have applications in addition to high-energy linear colliders; they can, for example, serve as compact injectors for FEL`s and storage rings.

This presentation is an overview of the power electronics and electric motor thermal management and reliability activities at NREL. The focus is on activities funded by the Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office Advanced Power Electronics and Electric Motors Program.

What is about future high speed power line communication systems for in-vehicles networks and results are given for different applications. Index Terms-- vehicles, power line, X-by-wire, embedded related to the steering, traction, braking system (ABS), Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Electric

Symposium on Power Systems for Electric Vehicles, Columbiaelectric vehicle must be considered as a total system which includes the primary energy source, electric powerpower for urban driving (32 W/kg), (130, Flow schematic for an electric vehicle battery system.

Many biological and chemical compounds have unique absorption features in the THz (0.1 - 10 THz) region, making the use of THz waves attractive for imaging in defense, security, biomedical imaging, and monitoring of industrial processes. Unlike optical radiation, THz frequencies can pass through many substances such as paper, clothing, ceramic, etc. with little attenuation. The use of currently available THz systems is limited by lack of highpower, sources as well as sensitive detectors and detector arrays operating at room temperature. Here we present a novel, high power THz source based on intracavity downconverison of optical pulses. The source delivers 6 ps pulses at 1.5 THz, with an average power of >300 ?W and peak powers >450 mW. We propose an imaging method based on frequency upconverison that is ideally suited to use the narrow bandwidth and high peak powers produced by the source. By upconverting the THz image to the infrared, commercially available detectors can be used for real time imaging.

The Vehicle Technologies Office's Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity carries out testing on a wide range of advanced vehicles and technologies on dynamometers, closed test tracks, and on-the-road. These results provide benchmark data that researchers can use to develop technology models and guide future research and development. The following report is a review of Vehicle-to-Grid power flow regulations and building codes, as informed by the AVTA's testing on plug-in electric vehicle charging equipment. This research was conducted by Idaho National Laboratory.

PolyStor, Power-One, LLNL and Aerojet are participants in a Technology Reinvestment Program contract supported by the Advanced Research Project Agency for developing carbon aerogel-based Electrolytic Double Layer Capacitors (Aerocapacitors). This paper reports some recent results for organic-electrolyte Aerocapacitors developed under this contract and initial results on their use in electrolytic double layer capacitor (EDLC)-battery powersources. EDLC-battery hybrid powersources offer the potential for increased discharge time, improved low temperature performance and longer cycle life vis-a-vis batteries in pulse discharge applications. The authors previously presented performance results for AA Aerocapacitors but this is the first report of their work on hybrid powersources. Prototype organic-electrolyte Aerocapacitors exhibit low equivalent series resistance (ESR), high capacitance, excellent rate capability at room temperature and low temperatures, and long life. The AA-size devices assembled for testing have ESRs of 20-30 m{Omega} at 1000 Hz and capacitances of about 6 Farads. They are capable of being discharged at very high rates. The capacity at 15 Amps is about 71% of the capacity at 1 Amp. The capacity at 1 Amp and {minus}40{degrees}C is 57% of the room-temperature 1 Amp capacity. AA Aerocapacitors have demonstrated 32,000 cycles in cycle life testing. After an initial capacity decrease of about 17% the capacity remained almost constant between cycle 10,000 and cycle 32,000.

This report summarizes research on opportunities to produce electric power from ambient sources as an alternative to using portable battery packs or hydrocarbon-fueled systems in remote areas. The work was an activity in the Advanced Concepts Project conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the Office of Research and Development in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nonproliferation and National Security.

Every mission launched by NASA to the outer planets has produced unexpected results. The Voyager I and II, Galileo, and Cassini missions produced images and collected scientific data that totally revolutionized our understanding of the solar system and the formation of the planetary systems. These missions were enabled by the use of nuclear power. Because of the distances from the Sun, electrical power was produced using the radioactive decay of a plutonium isotope. Radioisotopic Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) used in the past and currently used Multi-Mission RTGs (MMRTGs) provide power for space missions. Unfortunately, RTGs rely on thermocouples to convert heat to electricity and are inherently inefficient ({approx} 3-7% thermal to electric efficiency). A Radioisotope Thermal Photovoltaic (RTPV) powersource has the potential to reduce the specific mass of the onboard power supply by increasing the efficiency of thermal to electric conversion. In an RTPV, a radioisotope heats an emitter, which emits light to a photovoltaic (PV) cell, which converts the light into electricity. Developing an emitter tuned to the desired wavelength of the photovoltaic is a key part in increasing overall performance. Researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) have built a Thermal Photovoltaic (TPV) system, that utilizes a simulated General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) from a MMRTG to heat a tantalum emitter. The GPHS is a block of graphite roughly 10 cm by 10 cm by 5 cm. A fully loaded GPHS produces 250 w of thermal power and weighs 1.6 kgs. The GRC system relies on the GPHS unit radiating at 1200 K to a tantalum emitter that, in turn, radiates light to a GaInAs photo-voltaic cell. The GRC claims system efficiency of conversion of 15%. The specific mass is around 167 kg/kWe. A RTPV powersource that utilized a ceramic or ceramic-metal (cermet) matrix would allow for the combination of the heat source, canister, and emitter into one compact unit, and allow variation in size and shape to optimize temperature and emission spectra.

The design of the electric platform in military vehicles requires the ability to determine the best combination of power system components that support the desired operational abilities, while minimizing the size, weight, cost, and impact...

The design of the electric platform in military vehicles requires the ability to determine the best combination of power system components that support the desired operational abilities, while minimizing the size, weight, cost, and impact...

The purpose of this thesis was to construct and seal air and containment tanks and other parts for a constant buoyancy power supply for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, or AUV. While multiple materials and techniques were ...

A STOCHASTIC OPTIMAL CONTROL APPROACH FOR POWER MANAGEMENT IN PLUG-IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES on optimizing PHEV power management for fuel economy, subject to charge sustenance constraints, over individual dynamic programming to optimize PHEV power management over a distribution of drive cycles, rather than

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are developing and demonstrating innovative heat-transfer technologies for cooling power electronics devices in hybrid and electric vehicles. In collaboration with 3M and Wolverine Tube, Inc., NREL is using surface enhancements to dissipate heat more effectively, permitting a reduction in the size of power electronic systems and potentially reducing the overall costs of electric vehicles.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are being developed around the world, with much work aiming to optimize engine and battery for efficient operation, both during discharge and when grid electricity is available for recharging. However, the general expectation has been that the grid will not be greatly affected by the use of PHEVs because the recharging will occur during off-peak hours, or the number of vehicles will grow slowly enough so that capacity planning will respond adequately. This expectation does not consider that drivers will control the timing of recharging, and their inclination will be to plug in when convenient, rather than when utilities would prefer. It is important to understand the ramifications of adding load from PHEVs onto the grid. Depending on when and where the vehicles are plugged in, they could cause local or regional constraints on the grid. They could require the addition of new electric capacity and increase the utilization of existing capacity. Usage patterns of local distribution grids will change, and some lines or substations may become overloaded sooner than expected. Furthermore, the type of generation used to meet the demand for recharging PHEVs will depend on the region of the country and the timing of recharging. This paper analyzes the potential impacts of PHEVs on electricity demand, supply, generation structure, prices, and associated emission levels in 2020 and 2030 in 13 regions specified by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Information Administration (EIA), and on which the data and analysis in EIA's Annual Energy Outlook 2007 are based (Figure ES-1). The estimates of power plant supplies and regional hourly electricity demand come from publicly available sources from EIA and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Electricity requirements for PHEVs are based on analysis from the Electric Power Research Institute, with an optimistic projection of 25% market penetration by 2020, involving a mixture of sedans and sport utility vehicles. The calculations were done using the Oak Ridge Competitive Electricity Dispatch (ORCED) model, a model developed over the past 12 years to evaluate a wide variety of critical electricity sector issues. Seven scenarios were run for each region for 2020 and 2030, for a total of 182 scenarios. In addition to a base scenario of no PHEVs, the authors modeled scenarios assuming that vehicles were either plugged in starting at 5:00 p.m. (evening) or at 10:00 p.m.(night) and left until fully charged. Three charging rates were examined: 120V/15A (1.4 kW), 120V/20A (2 kW), and 220V/30A (6 kW). Most regions will need to build additional capacity or utilize demand response to meet the added demand from PHEVs in the evening charging scenarios, especially by 2030 when PHEVs have a larger share of the installed vehicle base and make a larger demand on the system. The added demands of evening charging, especially at high power levels, can impact the overall demand peaks and reduce the reserve margins for a region's system. Night recharging has little potential to influence peak loads, but will still influence the amount and type of generation.

This final report describes activities carried out in support of a demonstration of a hydrogen poweredvehicle fleet and construction of a solar powered hydrogen generation system. The hydrogen generation system was permitted for construction, constructed, and permitted for operation. It is not connected to the utility grid, either for electrolytic generation of hydrogen or for compression of the gas. Operation results from ideal and cloudy days are presented. The report also describes the achievement of licensing permits for their hydrogen powered trucks in California, safety assessments of the trucks, performance data, and information on emissions measurements which demonstrate performance better than the Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle levels.

Bidirectional power electronics can add vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capability in a plug-in vehicle, which then allows the vehicle to operate as a distributed resource (DR). The uniqueness of the battery-based V2G power electronics requires a test procedure that will not only maintain IEEE interconnection standards, but can also evaluate the electrical performance of the vehicle working as a DR. The objective of this paper is to discuss a recently published NREL technical report that provides interim test procedures for V2G vehicles for their integration into the electrical distribution systems and for their performance in terms of continuous output power, efficiency, and losses. Additionally, some other test procedures are discussed that are applicable to a V2G vehicle that desires to provide power reserve functions. A few sample test results are provided based on testing of prototype V2G vehicles at NREL.

converter design. A conceptual design approach is proposed to select the proper power converter topologies according to the determined power conditioning needs. The related standards and previous works are reviewed to determine the design guidelines. A set...

(PSERC) is a multi-university Center conducting research on challenges facing the electric power industry to the electric power industry. The impact of PHEVs on the power grid is investigated. The methodology electric and gas, (b) simulation of the electric infrastructure (distribution systems) and the loading

An assessment of the status of the integrated fuel cell/battery power system concept for electric vehicle propulsion is reported. The fuel cell, operating on hydrogen or methanol (indirectly), acts as a very high capacity energy battery for vehicle sustaining operation, while a special power battery provides over-capacity transient power on demand, being recharged by the fuel cell, e.g., during cruising. A focused literature search and a set of industrial and Government contacts were carried out to establish views, outlooks, and general status concerning the concept. It is evident that, although vehicle battery R and D is being actively pursued, little of today's fuel cell work is directed to transportation usage. Only very limited attention has been, and is being, given to the fuel cell/battery power system concept itself. However, judging largely from computer-simulated driving cycle results, the concept can provide needed range capabilities and general operating flexibility to electric vehicles. New transportation applications, conventionally viewed as beyond the capability of electric vehicles, may thereby be practical, e.g., rail, trucks. In view of these potential and important benefits, and the absence of any comprehensive research, development, and demonstration activities which are supportive of the fuel cell/battery system concept, the initiation of an appropriate effort is recommended by the Assessment Team. This general recommendation is supported by applicable findings, observations, and conclusions.

Electric vehicles (EV), which are powered by battery-driven electric motors, are becoming an ecologically attractive alternative to gasoline driven vehicles. One drawback to them is that the associated battery chargers are power electronic circuits which, because of their non-linear nature, can produce deleterious harmonic effects on the electric utility distribution system. To investigate the harmonic effects of widespread use of EV battery chargers, three different commercially available EV battery chargers are modeled using the injection current method to represent their current waveforms for simulation in a SPICE model of a particular distribution system.

and inventories of CO, NO_(x) and VOCs from on-road vehicles estimated by vehicle emission factor models and biogenic emissions of isoprene estimated by a popular biogenic emission model are evaluated using local and regional scale air quality modeling and source...

Solar energy is the most suitable basis for power supply for the majority of projects in the near-Earth space. Passing on to the large-scale space-based systems of power supply requires putting into life demonstration experiments in which power transmission by electromagnetic emission is supposed. In the paper the expedience of developing an autonomous power module which provides the possibility of space programs with great power consumption and wireless transmission system running-up is proved. Ukraine can design a solar power satellite of 10-20kW power on the basis of the research satellite AUOS-SM. Two variants of design solutions for such satellite with solar arrays of great area are presented. Power transmission to the space vehicle-consumer can be conducted by cable as well as in a wireless way. The possibilities of placing microwave and laser energy transmission systems on board the satellite are analysed. It is shown that a power supply system for space vehicles with transmission distance of thousands km can be designed basing on modern lasers. Some experiments making use of great electric power generated by the plant of the satellite under consideration are proposed. The running-up of electric thrusters which are necessary for orientation and distancing is of great interest. Wireless power transmission may be carried on to a small satellite equipped with electric thrusters. 26 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs.

(thermal, gas, diesel) and renewable (hydro, wind) power units. The objective is to assess the impact - that have a special dynamic behaviour, and the wind turbines. Detailed models for each one of the power system components are developed. Emphasis is given in the representation of different hydro power plant

Diagnostic Characterization of High Power Lithium-Ion Batteries for Use in Hybrid Electric Vehicles for perfor- mance characterization of these batteries in HEV applications in contrast to the constant microscopy, atomic force microscopy, gas chromatography, etc., were used to characterize the anode, cathode

Diagnostic Characterization of High-Power Lithium-Ion Batteries For Use in Hybrid Electric Vehicles generated specifically for performance characterization of these batteries in HEV applications in contrast to the constant-current profiles typically used in the characterization of lithium-ion batteries for portable

Control of a Fuel-Cell Powered DC Electric Vehicle Motor Federico Zenith Sigurd Skogestad Introduction Research in fuel cells receives currently a lot of interest. Fuel cells can be used, in different. However, the dynamics of fuel cells has received comparatively less attention. Control of fuel cells

Brochure describes the hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine (H2ICE) shuttle bus at NREL. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is funding the lease of the bus from Ford to demonstrate market-ready advanced technology vehicles to visitors at NREL.

A method of managing power resources for an electrical system of a vehicle may include identifying enabled powersources from among a plurality of powersources in electrical communication with the electrical system and calculating a threshold power value for the enabled powersources. A total power load placed on the electrical system by one or more power consumers may be measured. If the total power load exceeds the threshold power value, then a determination may be made as to whether one or more additional powersources is available from among the plurality of powersources. At least one of the one or more additional powersources may be enabled, if available.

A compact pulsed gamma generator is being developed to replace radiological sources used in commercial, industrial and medical applications. Mono-energetic gammas are produced in the 0.4 - 1.0 MeV energy range using nuclear reactions such as {sup 9}Be(d,n{gamma}){sup 10}B. The gamma generator employs an RF-driven inductively coupled plasma ion source to produce deuterium ion current densities up to 2 mA/mm{sup 2} and ampere-level current pulses can be attained by utilizing an array extraction grid. The extracted deuterium ions are accelerated to approximately 300 keV via a compact stacked pyroelectric crystal system and then bombard the beryllium target to generate gammas. The resulting microsecond pulse of gammas is equivalent to a radiological source with curie-level activity.

and wind power in three Canadian jurisdictions, namely British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta. An Optimal baseload mixtures. The large premium paid for displacing hydro or nuclear power with wind power does littleThe Techno-economic Impacts of Using Wind Power and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles for Greenhouse

Understanding the sources of complexity in advanced Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) control rooms and their effects on human reliability is critical for ensuring safe performance of both operators and the entire system. New ...

The effect of the anode flow field design on the performance of an in-house fabricated micro direct methanol for energy sources that are compact, lightweight and powerful. Existing rechargeable battery technology

batteries daily using solar panels to convert solar energy to electrical energy. #12;Â· Operate at depthsSOLAR-POWERED AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT James Jalbert, John Baker, John Duchesney in such applications. The concept of a vehicle that would allow on-station recharging of batteries, using solar cells

The growing necessity for environmentally benign hybrid propulsion systems has led to the development of advanced power management control algorithms to maximize fuel economy and minimize pollutant emissions. This paper surveys the control algorithms for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in HEVs (PHEVs) that have been reported in the literature to date. The exposition ranges from parallel, series, and power split HEVs and PHEVs and includes a classification of the algorithms in terms of their implementation and the chronological order of their appearance. Remaining challenges and potential future research directions are also discussed.

This document reports progress in these areas: EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS FROM NOVA: TAMPED XENON UNDERDENSE X-RAY EMITTERS; MODELING MULTI-KEV RADIATION PRODUCTION OF XENON-FILLED BERYLLIUM CANS; MAPPING A CALCULATION FROM LASNEX TO CALE; HOT X RAYS FROM SEEDED NIF CAPSULES; HOHLRAUM DEBRIS MEASUREMENTS AT NOVA; FOAM AND STRUCTURAL RESPONSE CALCULATIONS FOR NIF NEUTRON EXPOSURE SAMPLE CASE ASSEMBLY DESIGN; NON-IGNITION X-RAY SOURCE FLUENCE-AREA PRODUCTS FOR NUCLEAR EFFECTS TESTING ON NIF. Also appended are reprints of two papers. The first is on the subject of ``X-Ray Production in Laser-Heated Xe Gas Targets.`` The second is on ``Efficient Production and Applications of 2- to 10-keV X Rays by Laser-Heated Underdense Radiators.``

Wireless power transfer has been a popular topic of recent research. Most research has been done to address the limitations of coil-to-coil efficiency. However, little has been done to address the problem associated with the low input power factor with which the systems operate. This paper details the steps taken to analyze a wireless power transfer system from the view of the power grid under a variety of loading conditions with and without power factor correction.

National Laboratory(a) ABSTRACT The U.S. electric power infrastructure is a strategic national asset.S. electric infrastructure is designed to meet the highest expected demand for power and, as a resultIMPACTS ASSESSMENT OF PLUG-IN HYBRID VEHICLES ON ELECTRIC UTILITIES AND REGIONAL U.S. POWER GRIDS

02FCC-37 Impact of SiC Power Electronic Devices for Hybrid Electric Vehicles Leon M. Tolbert1 properties of silicon carbide (SiC) power electronic devices compared with silicon (Si) are expected to have characteristics of Si and SiC are used to develop a simulation model for SiC power electronics devices. The main

This report presents the results of the tests performed on a direct current (dc) power train in a test bed vehicle developed by the Eaton Corporation for the US Department of Energy (DOE). The tests were performed by EG and G Idaho, Inc. at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The purpose of the INEL testing was to provide test results from which an evaluation of the performance capabilities of the Eaton dc power train could be made and compared with other vehicle propulsion systems. The planned tests were primarily oriented toward road testing, chassis dynamometer testing, and associated dynamometer coastdown tests for road loss determination. Range tests of the Eaton dc test bed vehicle using an ALCO 2200 lead acid battery pack, produced ranges of 97 km at 56 km/h (60 miles at 35 mph), 79 km at 72 km/h (49 miles at 45 mph), and 47 km at 88 km/h (29 miles at 55 mph). The corresponding net dc energy consumptions are 135 Wh/km (217 Wh/mile), 145 Wh/km (233 Wh/mile), and 178 Wh/km (287 Wh/mile). The energy consumption for the D-cycle test was 241 Wh/km (387 Wh/mile). 8 refs., 11 figs., 16 tabs.

We relate the observable number of sources per solid angle and redshift to the underlying proper source density and velocity, background evolution and line-of-sight potentials. We give an exact result in the case of linearized perturbations assuming general relativity. This consistently includes contributions of the source density perturbations and redshift distortions, magnification, radial displacement, and various additional linear terms that are small on sub-horizon scales. In addition we calculate the effect on observed luminosities, and hence the result for sources observed as a function of flux, including magnification bias and radial-displacement effects. We give the corresponding linear result for a magnitude-limited survey at low redshift, and discuss the angular power spectrum of the total count distribution. We also calculate the cross-correlation with the CMB polarization and temperature including Doppler source terms, magnification, redshift distortions and other velocity effects for the sources...

S consisting of N particles P1,...,PN, suppose that n -m gen- eralized speeds have been introduced, and let vPir denote the rth partial velocity of Pi. Then, if Ri is the resultant of all contact and body forces acting on Pi, then the n -m quantities F1,...,Fn-m...IDENTIFICATION OF POWERED PARAFOIL-VEHICLE DYNAMICS FROM MODELLING AND FLIGHT TEST DATA A Dissertation by GI-BONG HUR Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree...

This was a two-year project that had two major components: 1) the demonstration of a PV-electrolysis system that has separate PV system and electrolysis unit and the hydrogen generated is to be used to power a fuel cell based vehicle; 2) the development of technologies for generation of hydrogen through photoelectrochemical process and bio-mass derived resources. Development under this project could lead to the achievement of DOE technical target related to PEC hydrogen production at low cost. The PEC part of the project is focused on the development of photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation devices and systems using thin-film silicon based solar cells. Two approaches are taken for the development of efficient and durable photoelectrochemical cells; 1) An immersion-type photoelectrochemical cells (Task 3) where the photoelectrode is immersed in electrolyte, and 2) A substrate-type photoelectrochemical cell (Task 2) where the photoelectrode is not in direct contact with electrolyte. Four tasks are being carried out: Task 1: Design and analysis of DC voltage regulation system for direct PV-to-electrolyzer power feed Task 2: Development of advanced materials for substrate-type PEC cells Task 3: Development of advanced materials for immersion-type PEC cells Task 4: Hydrogen production through conversion of biomass-derived wastes

fire as a result of an internal short circuit. Therefore, the guidelines recommend that a cellJournal of PowerSources 153 (2006) 345­349 Short communication Improvement of 12 V overcharge that block the high temperature, high current, overcharging and a have safety pressure-release rupture vent

An efficient, solid state RF powersource has been developed on this NICE project for exciting low power electrodeless lamp bulbs. This project takes full advantage of concurrent advances in electrodeless lamp technology. Electrodeless lamp lighting systems utilizing the sulfur based bulb type developed by Fusion Lighting, Inc., is an emerging technology which is based on generating light in a confined plasma created and sustained by RF excitation. The bulb for such a lamp is filled with a particular element and inert gas at low pressure when cold. RF power from the RF source creates a plasma within the bulb which reaches temperatures approaching those of high pressure discharge lamp plasmas. At these temperatures the plasma radiates substantial visible light with a spectrum similar to sunlight.

This paper explores the potential of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCS) as 3--10 kW auxiliary power units for trucks and military vehicles operating on diesel fuel. It discusses the requirements and specifications for such units, and the advantages, challenges, and development issues for SOFCS used in this application. Based on system design and analysis, such systems should achieve efficiencies approaching 40% (lower heating value), with a relatively simple system configuration. The major components of such a system are the fuel cell stack, a catalytic autothermal reformer, and a spent gas burner/air preheater. Building an SOFC-based auxiliary power unit is not straightforward, however, and the tasks needed to develop a 3--10 kW brassboard demonstration unit are outlined.

The U.S. military uses large amounts of fuel during deployments and battlefield operations. This project sought to develop a lightweight, small form-factor, soldier-portable advanced thermoelectric (TE) system prototype to recover and convert waste heat from various deployed military equipment (i.e., diesel generators/engines, incinerators, vehicles, and potentially mobile kitchens), with the ultimate purpose of producing power for soldier battery charging, advanced capacitor charging, and other battlefield power applications. The technical approach employed microchannel technology, a unique “power panel” approach to heat exchange/TE system integration, and newly-characterized LAST (lead-antimony-silver-telluride) and LASTT (lead-antimony-silver-tin-telluride) TE materials segmented with bismuth telluride TE materials in designing a segmented-element TE power module and system. This project researched never-before-addressed system integration challenges (thermal expansion, thermal diffusion, electrical interconnection, thermal and electrical interfaces) of designing thin “power panels” consisting of alternating layers of thin, microchannel heat exchangers (hot and cold) sandwiching thin, segmented-element TE power generators. The TE properties, structurally properties, and thermal fatigue behavior of LAST and LASTT materials were developed and characterized such that the first segmented-element TE modules using LAST / LASTT materials were fabricated and tested at hot-side temperatures = 400 °C and cold-side temperatures = 40 °C. LAST / LASTT materials were successfully segmented with bismuth telluride and electrically interconnected with diffusion barrier materials and copper strapping within the module electrical circuit. A TE system design was developed to produce 1.5-1.6 kW of electrical energy using these new TE modules from the exhaust waste heat of 60-kW Tactical Quiet Generators as demonstration vehicles.

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) are gaining increasing popularity in recent years, due to the growing societal awareness of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the dependence on foreign oil or petroleum. Large-scale implementation of PEVs in the power system currently faces many challenges. One particular concern is that the PEV charging can potentially cause significant impact on the existing power distribution system, due to the increase in peak load. As such, this work tries to mitigate the PEV charging impact by proposing a decentralized smart PEV charging algorithm to minimize the distribution system load variance, so that a 'flat' total load profile can be obtained. The charging algorithm is on-line, in that it controls the PEV charging processes in each time slot based entirely on the current power system state. Thus, compared to other forecast based smart charging approaches in the literature, the charging algorithm is robust against various uncertainties in the power system, such as random PE...

In Cadarache development on negative ion sources is being carried out on the KAMABOKO III ion source on the MANTIS test bed. This is a model of the ion source designed for the neutral beam injectors of ITER. This ion source has been developed in collaboration with JAERI, Japan, who also designed and supplied the ion source. Its target performance is to accelerate a D- beam, with a current density of 200 A/m2 and <1 electron extracted per accelerated D- ion, at a source filling pressure of 0.3 Pa. For ITER a continuous ion beam must be assured for pulse lengths of 1000 s, but beams of up to 3,600 s are also envisaged. The ion source is attached to a 3 grid 30 keV accelerator (also supplied by JAERI) and the accelerated negative ion current is determined from the energy deposited on a calorimeter. During long pulse operation ({<=}1000 s) it was found that the current density of both D- and H- beams, measured at the calorimeter was lower than expected and that a large discrepancy existed between the accelerated currents measured electrically and those transmitted to the calorimeter. The possibility that this discrepancy arose because the accelerated current included electrons (which would not be able to reach the calorimeter) was investigated and subsequently eliminated. Further studies have shown that the fraction of the electrical current reaching the calorimeter varies with the pulse length, which led to the suggestion that one or more of the accelerator grids were distorting due to the incident power during operation, leading to a progressive deterioration in the beam quality.. New extraction and acceleration grids have been designed and installed, which should have a better tolerance to thermal loads than those previously used. This paper describes the measurements of the power transmission and distribution using these grids.

Paper presented at the 45th Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, October 1994. The Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Ulysses mission to explore the polar regions of the Sun required a new powersource: the general-purpose heat source radioisotope thermoelectric generator (GPHS-RTG), the most powerful RTG yet flow. Four flight-qualified GPHS-RTGs were fabricated with one that is being used on Ulysses, two that are being used on Galileo and one that was a common spare (and is now available for the Cassini mission to Saturn). In addition, and Engineering Unit and a Qualification Unit were fabricated to qualify the design for space through rigorous ground tests. This paper summarizes the ground testing and performance predictions showing that the GPHS-RTGs have met and will continue to meet or exceed the performance requirements of the ongoing Galileo and Ulysses missions. There are two copies in the file.

Chairman of Advisory Committee: Chanan Singh A method for reliability analysis of electric power systems with time dependent sources, such as photovoltaic and wind generation, is introduced. The fluctuating characteristic of unconventional generation... and active solar. wind, geothermal, and hydropower. Of all the renewable energy technologies that have been the focus of encouraging government and private R k D efforts, photovoltaic generation and wind turbine generation appear to be the leading...

, with a channel depth of 500 m. A gold layer was deposited on the stainless steel plate to prevent corrosion to enhance the cell performance further in order to compete with the lithium ion battery. To date, most micro.jpowsour.2004.12.023 #12;142 G.Q. Lu, C.Y. Wang / Journal of PowerSources 144 (2005) 141­145 corrosion

This technical memorandum describes models and calculational procedures to fully characterize the nuclear island of powersources for nuclear electric propulsion. Two computer codes were written: one for the gas-cooled NERVA derivative reactor and the other for liquid metal-cooled fuel pin reactors. These codes are going to be interfaced by NASA with the balance of plant in order to making scoping calculations for mission analysis.

PowerSources for Wireless Sensor Networks Abstract. Wireless sensor networks are poised to become a very significant enabling technology in many sectors. Already a few very low power wireless sensor environment, alternative powersources must be employed. This paper reviews many potential powersources

The Advanced Technology Development (ATD) Program seeks to aid the development of high-power lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles. Nine 18650-size ATD baseline cells were tested under a variety of conditions. The cells consisted of a carbon anode, LiNi{sub 0.8}Co{sub 0.2}O{sub 2} cathode and DEC-EC-LiPF{sub 6} electrolyte, and they were engineered for high-power applications. Selected instrumental techniques such as synchrotron IR microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, gas chromatography, etc. were used to characterize the anode, cathode, current collectors and electrolyte from these cells. The goal was to identify detrimental processes which lead to battery failure under a high-current cycling regime as well as during storage at elevated temperatures. The diagnostic results suggest that the following factors contribute to the cell power loss: (a) SEI deterioration and non-uniformity on the anode, (b) morphology changes, increase of impedance and phase separation on the cathode, (c) pitting corrosion on the cathode Al current collector, and (d) decomposition of the LiPF{sub 6} salt in the electrolyte at elevated temperature.

Mapping Complexity Sources in Nuclear Power Plant Domains Understanding the sources of complexity in advanced Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) control rooms and their effects on human reliability is critical of complexity leveraging network theory. INTRODUCTION The nuclear power industry in United States has declined

Automakers have been mass producing hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) for well over a decade, and the technology has proven to be very effective at reducing per-vehicle gasoline use. However, the battery cost in HEVs contribute to higher incremental cost of HEVs (a few thousand dollars) than the cost of comparable conventional vehicles, which has limited HEV market penetration. Significant cost reductions/performance improvements to the energy storage system (ESS) can improve the vehicle-level cost vs. benefit relationship for HEVs. Such an improvement could lead to larger HEV market penetration and greater aggregate gasoline savings. After significant analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) and Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Storage program suggested a new set of requirements for ESS for power-assist HEVs for cost reduction without impacting performance and fuel economy significantly. With support from DOE, NREL has developed an HEV test platform for in-vehicle performance and fuel economy validation testing of the hybrid system using such LEESS devices. This poster will describe development of the LEESS HEV test platform, and LEESS laboratory as well as in-vehicle evaluation results. The first LEESS technology tested was lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) - i.e., asymmetric electrochemical energy storage devices possessing one electrode with battery-type characteristics (lithiated graphite) and one with ultracapacitor-type characteristics (carbon). We will discuss the performance and fuel saving results with LIC with comparison with original NiMH battery.

The transportation sector accounts for a large and growing share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Worldwide, motor vehicles emit well over 900 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year, accounting for more than 15 percent of global fossil fuel-derived CO2 emissions.1 In the industrialized world alone, 20-25 percent of GHG emissions come from the transportation sector. The share of transport-related emissions is growing rapidly due to the continued increase in transportation activity.2 In 1950, there were only 70 million cars, trucks, and buses on the world’s roads. By 1994, there were about nine times that number, or 630 million vehicles. Since the early 1970s, the global fleet has been growing at a rate of 16 million vehicles per year. This expansion has been accompanied by a similar growth in fuel consumption.3 If this kind of linear growth continues, by the year 2025 there will be well over one billion vehicles on the world’s roads.4 In a response to the significant growth in transportation-related GHG emissions, governments and policy makers worldwide are considering methods to reverse this trend. However, due to the particular make-up of the transportation sector, regulating and reducing emissions from this sector poses a significant challenge. Unlike stationary fuel combustion, transportation-related emissions come from dispersed sources. Only a few point-source emitters, such as oil/natural gas wells, refineries, or compressor stations, contribute to emissions from the transportation sector. The majority of transport-related emissions come from the millions of vehicles traveling the world’s roads. As a result, successful GHG mitigation policies must find ways to target all of these small, non-point source emitters, either through regulatory means or through various incentive programs. To increase their effectiveness, policies to control emissions from the transportation sector often utilize indirect means to reduce emissions, such as requiring specific technology improvements or an increase in fuel efficiency. Site-specific project activities can also be undertaken to help decrease GHG emissions, although the use of such measures is less common. Sample activities include switching to less GHG-intensive vehicle options, such as electric vehicles (EVs) or hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). As emissions from transportation activities continue to rise, it will be necessary to promote both types of abatement activities in order to reverse the current emissions path. This Resource Guide focuses on site- and project-specific transportation activities. .

ADEPT Project: Currently, charging the battery of an electric vehicle (EV) is a time-consuming process because chargers can only draw about as much power from the grid as a hair dryer. APEI is developing an EV charger that can draw as much power as a clothes dryer, which would drastically speed up charging time. APEI's charger uses silicon carbide (SiC)-based power transistors. These transistors control the electrical energy flowing through the charger's circuits more effectively and efficiently than traditional transistors made of straight silicon. The SiC-based transistors also require less cooling, enabling APEI to create EV chargers that are 10 times smaller than existing chargers.

An on-board hydride storage system and process are described. The system includes a slurry storage system that includes a slurry reactor and a variable concentration slurry. In one preferred configuration, the storage system stores a slurry containing a hydride storage material in a carrier fluid at a first concentration of hydride solids. The slurry reactor receives the slurry containing a second concentration of the hydride storage material and releases hydrogen as a fuel to hydrogen-power devices and vehicles.

density ultracapacitors in Fuel Cell Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FCHEV) results in a high efficient, high lifetime is achievable. Keywords -- Battery; Energy Management Strategy; Fuel Cell; Hybrid Electric Vehicle from the methanol storage is fed to the bus through a reformer and the fuel cell stack (FC). Power

Changing economic and environmental needs of the trucking industry is driving the use of auxiliary power unit (APU) technology for over the road haul trucks. The trucking industry in the United States remains the key to the economy of the nation and one of the major changes affecting the trucking industry is the reduction of engine idling. Delphi Automotive Systems, LLC (Delphi) teamed with heavy-duty truck Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) PACCAR Incorporated (PACCAR), and Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) to define system level requirements and develop an SOFC based APU. The project defines system level requirements, and subsequently designs and implements an optimized system architecture using an SOFC APU to demonstrate and validate that the APU will meet system level goals. The primary focus is on APUs in the range of 3-5 kW for truck idling reduction. Fuels utilized were derived from low-sulfur diesel fuel. Key areas of study and development included sulfur remediation with reformer operation; stack sensitivity testing; testing of catalyst carbon plugging and combustion start plugging; system pre-combustion; and overall system and electrical integration. This development, once fully implemented and commercialized, has the potential to significantly reduce the fuel idling Class 7/8 trucks consume. In addition, the significant amounts of NOx, CO2 and PM that are produced under these engine idling conditions will be virtually eliminated, inclusive of the noise pollution. The environmental impact will be significant with the added benefit of fuel savings and payback for the vehicle operators / owners.

reason for downsizing the fuel cell is cost rather than fuelthe fuel cell as a means of reducing system cost. Thecost, vehicle performance, and fuel economy potential. Figure 3 illustrates schematically the fuel cell

studied in the dissertation include reliability evaluation of power systems with time-dependent energy sources, multi-objective design of hybrid generation systems, risk and cost tradeoff in economic dispatch with wind power penetration, optimal placement...

xxx (2007) xxx­xxx Using fleets of electric-drive vehicles for grid support3 Jasna Tomi´c, Willett 6 March 2007; accepted 6 March 2007 6 Abstract7 Electric-drive vehicles can provide power to the electric grid when they are parked (vehicle-to-grid power). We evaluated the economic potential of two

The NRC has stated its concern about the reliability of the offsite power system as the preferred emergency source and about the possible damage to a pressurized water reactor (PWR) that could result from a rapid decay of power grid frequency. ORNL contracted with NRC to provide technical assistance to establish criteria that can be used to evaluate the offsite power system for the licensing of a nuclear power plant. The results of many of the studies for this contract are recommendations to assess and control the power grid during operation. This is because most of the NRC regulations pertaining to the offsite power system are related to the design of the power grid, and we believe that additional emphasis on monitoring the power grid operation will improve the reliability of the nuclear plant offsite power supply. 46 refs., 10 figs.

This initial paper estimates the regional percentages of the energy requirements for the U.S. light duty vehicle stock that could be supported by the existing grid, based on 12 NERC regions. This paper also discusses the impact of overall emissions of criteria gases and greenhouse gases as a result of shifting emission from millions of tailpipes to a relatively few power plants. The paper concludes with an outlook of the technology requirements necessary to manage the additional and potentially sizable new load to maintain grid reliability.

A MEMS-based micro-unmanned vehicle includes at least a pair of wings having leading wing beams and trailing wing beams, at least two actuators, a leading actuator beam coupled to the leading wing beams, a trailing actuator beam coupled to the trailing wing beams, a vehicle body having a plurality of fulcrums pivotally securing the leading wing beams, the trailing wing beams, the leading actuator beam and the trailing actuator beam and having at least one anisotropically etched recess to accommodate a lever-fulcrum motion of the coupled beams, and a powersource.

This section includes some historical background of the rise and fall and subsequent rebirth of the electric vehicle; and a brief discussion of current transportation needs, and environmental and energy utilization issues that resulted in the renewed interest in applying electrochemical energy conversion technology to electric vehicle applications. Although energy utilization has evolved to be the most significant and important issue, the environmental issue will be discussed first in this section only because of its chronological occurrence. The next part of the chapter is a review of passenger and commercial electric vehicle technology with emphasis on vehicle design and demonstrated performance of vehicles with candidate powersources being developed. This is followed by a discussion of electrochemical powersource requirements associated with future electric vehicles that can play a role in meeting modern transportation needs. The last part of the chapter includes first a discussion of how to identify candidate electrochemical systems that might be of interest in meeting electric vehiclepowersource requirements. This is then followed by a review of the current technological status of these systems and a discussion of the most significant problems that must be resolved before each candidate system can be a viable powersource.

The Platte River Power Authority (Platte River) is a political subdivision of the state of Colorado, owned by the four municipalities of Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont and Estes Park, Colorado. Platte River is a non-profit, publicly owned, joint-action agency formed to construct, operate and maintain generating plants, transmission systems and related facilities for the purpose of delivering to the four municipalities electric energy for distribution and resale. Platte River, as a participant in the US Department of Energy (DOE) Site Operator Program, worked to accomplish the Site Operator Program goals and objectives to field test and evaluate electric and electric-hybrid vehicles and electric vehicle systems in a real world application/environment. This report presents results of Platte River`s program (Program) during the five-years Platte River participated in the DOE Site Operator Program. Platte River participated in DOE Site Operator Program from July 3, 1991 through August 31, 1996. During its Program, Platte River conducted vehicle tests and evaluations, and electric vehicle demonstrations in the Front Range region of Northern Colorado. Platte River also investigated electric vehicle infrastructure issues and tested infrastructure components. Platte River`s Program objectives were as follows: evaluate the year round performance, operational costs, reliability, and life cycle costs of electric vehicles in the Front Range region of Northern Colorado; evaluate an electric vehicle`s usability and acceptability as a pool vehicle; test any design improvements or technological improvements on a component level that may be made available to PRPA and which can be retrofit into vehicles; and develop, test and evaluate, and demonstrate components to be used in charging electric vehicles.

Abstract: In this paper, an integrated onboard battery charger and accessary dc-dc converter for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) is presented. The idea is to utilize the already available traction drive inverters and motors of a PEV as the frond converter of the charger circuit and the transformer of the 14 V accessary dc-dc converter to provide galvanic isolation. The topology was verified by modeling and experimental results on a 5 kW charger prototype

A control circuit for a vehicle powertrain includes a switch that selectivity interrupts current flow between a first terminal and a second terminal. A first powersource provides power to the first terminal and a second powersource provides power to the second terminal and to a heater of a heated diesel particulate filter (DPF). The switch is opened during a DPF regeneration cycle to prevent the first powersource from being loaded by the heater while the heater is energized.

This article reports that though battery technology is currently limiting the growth of EVs, the search for improvements is spurring innovative engineering developments. As battery makers, automakers, national laboratories, and others continue their search for a practical source of electric power that will make electric vehicles (EVs) more viable, engineers worldwide are making progress in other areas of EV development. Vector control, for example, enables better regulation of motor torque and speed; composite and aluminum parts reduce the vehicle`s weight, which in turn reduces the load on the motor and battery; and flywheel energy storage systems, supercapacitors, regenerative brake systems, and hybrid/electric drive trains increase range and acceleration. Despite efforts to develop an electric vehicle from the ground up, most of the early EVs to be sold in the United States will likely be converted from gasoline-poweredvehicles. Chrysler Corp., for example, is expected to sell electric versions of its minivans and build them on the same assembly line as its gasoline-poweredvehicles to reduce costs. The pace of engineering development in this field is fast and furious. Indeed, it is virtually impossible to monitor all emerging EV technology. To meet their quotas, the major automakers may even consider buying credits from smaller, innovative EV manufacturers. But whatever stopgap measures vehicle makers take, technology development will be the driving force behind long-term EV growth.

This paper presents the various configurations of a multilevel modular capacitor-clamped converter (MMCCC), and it reveals many useful and new formations of the original MMCCC for transferring power in either an isolated or nonisolated manner. The various features of the original MMCCC circuit are best suited for a multibus system in future plug-in hybrid or fuel-cell-poweredvehicles' drive train. The original MMCCC is capable of bidirectional power transfer using multilevel modular structure with capacitor-clamped topology. It has a nonisolated structure, and it offers very high efficiency even at partial loads. This circuit was modified to integrate single or multiple high-frequency transformers by using the intermediate voltage nodes of the converter. On the other hand, a special formation of the MMCCC can exhibit dc outputs offering limited isolation without using any isolation transformer. This modified version can produce a high conversion ratio from a limited number of components and has several useful applications in providing power to multiple low-voltage loads in a hybrid or electric automobile. This paper will investigate the origin of generating ac outputs from the MMCCC and shows how the transformer-free version can be modified to create limited isolation from the circuit. In addition, this paper will compare various modified forms of the MMCCC topology with existing dc-dc converter circuits from compactness and component utilization perspectives.

A method and apparatus for load leveling of a battery in an electrical power system includes a power regulator coupled to transfer power between a load and a DC link, a battery coupled to the DC link through a first DC-to-DC converter and an auxiliary passive energy storage device coupled to the DC link through a second DC-to-DC converter. The battery is coupled to the passive energy storage device through a unidirectional conducting device whereby the battery can supply power to the DC link through each of the first and second converters when battery voltage exceeds voltage on the passive storage device. When the load comprises a motor capable of operating in a regenerative mode, the converters are adapted for transferring power to the battery and passive storage device. In this form, resistance can be coupled in circuit with the second DC-to-DC converter to dissipate excess regenerative power.

A method and apparatus for load leveling of a battery in an electrical power system includes a power regulator coupled to transfer power between a load and a DC link, a battery coupled to the DC link through a first DC-to-DC converter and an auxiliary passive energy storage device coupled to the DC link through a second DC-to-DC converter. The battery is coupled to the passive energy storage device through a unidirectional conducting device whereby the battery can supply power to the DC link through each of the first and second converters when battery voltage exceeds voltage on the passive storage device. When the load comprises a motor capable of operating in a regenerative mode, the converters are adapted for transferring power to the battery and passive storage device. In this form, resistance can be coupled in circuit with the second DC-to-DC converter to dissipate excess regenerative power. 8 figs.

.12.023 Influence of the diameter distribution on the rate capability of silicon nanowires for lithium-ion batteries power density anodes in lithium ion batteries. Keywords: Silicon nanowires Lithium-ion batteries is ten times higher than that exhibited by the conventional graphite elec- trode used for commercial

The US electricity grid is a national infrastructure that has the potential to deliver significant amounts of the daily driving energy of the US light duty vehicle (cars, pickups, SUVs, and vans) fleet. This paper discusses a 2030 scenario with 37 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) on the road in the US demanding electricity for an average daily driving distance of about 33 miles (53 km). The paper addresses the potential grid impacts of the PHEVs fleet relative to their effects on the production cost of electricity, and the emissions from the electricity sector. The results of this analysis indicate significant regional difference on the cost impacts and the CO2 emissions. Battery charging during the day may have twice the cost impacts than charging during the night. The CO2 emissions impacts are very region-dependent. In predominantly coal regions (Midwest), the new PHEV load may reduce the CO2 emission intensity (ton/MWh), while in others regions with significant clean generation (hydro and renewable energy) the CO2 emission intensity may increase. Discussed will the potential impact of the results with the valuation of carbon emissions.

Electric propulsion and non-nuclear power can be used in tandem as a replacement for the current chemical booster and radioisotope thermoelectric generators now in use for deep space applications (i.e., to the asteroid belt and beyond). In current generation systems, electric propulsion is usually considered to be impractical because of the lack of high power for deep space, and non-nuclear power is thought to be impractical partly due to its high mass. However, when taken in combination, a solar powered electric upper stage can provide ample power and propulsion capability for use in deep space. Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) systems have generally been selected for missions only when other systems are absolutely unavailable. The disadvantages of radioisotopes include the need for nuclear safety as another dimension of concern in payload integration; the lack of assured availability of plutonium in the post-cold-war world; the enormous cost of plutonium-238; and the system complexity introduced by the need to continuously cool the system during the pre-launch phase. A conservative estimate for the total power for the solar array at beginning of life (BOL) may be in the range of 25 kW in order to provide 500 W continuous power at Jupiter. The availability of {approximately} 25 kW(e) in earth orbit raises the interesting possibility of coupling electric propulsion units to this free electric power. If electric propulsion is used to raise the probe from low-earth-orbit to an earth-escape trajectory, the system could actually save on low-earth orbit mass. Electric propulsion could be used by itself in a spiral trajectory orbit raising maneuver to earth escape velocity, or it could be used in conjunction with a chemical upper stage (either solid rocket or liquid), which would boost the payload to an elliptical orbit. The concept is to begin the Earth-Jupiter trip with a swing-by near the Sun close to the orbit of Venus and perhaps even closer if thermal loads can be tolerated. During the solar swing-by, much more power will be produced by the solar panels, allowing the spacecraft's velocity to be increased significantly. The outbound leg of the journey can, therefore, be made much more quickly than with the classical trajectory. For the purposes of a Jupiter mission, it is assumed that 20 km/sec total delta-v would be required. For a payload envelope of 17,304 kg, a 1,900 sec Isp capability means that 11,386 kg of propellant would have to be consumed, leaving 5,917 kg for the mass of the probe plus dry mass of the upper stage. The thruster subsystem would require 765 kg of thruster subsystem mass, and probably less. Assuming tanks, regulators and valves amount to 10% of the propellant mass (very likely a pessimistic assumption), it is possible to assign a mass of 1,150 kg for the tankage subsystem. This results in a mass allowance of at least 4,000 kg for the probe. This compares favorably with the dry mass of 1,637 kg for Galileo, for example, and suggests that more than adequate margin exists. If the payload margin is used for battery storage, flyby missions to the outer planets may be possible.

, USA a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 15 July 2010 Received in revised form 25 August membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is a promising powersource for many applications such as automobiles. Sealing

This thesis proposes a framework for combined source-channel coding under power and bandwidth constrained noisy channel. The framework is then applied to progressive image coding transmission using constant envelope M-ary Phase Shift Key (MPSK...

or renewable powersources such as solar panels [3]. Although batteries become more afford- able, replacing them in a remote location can be very costly, and solar panel efficiency is challenged by variable

A new MSNP-LTO anode is developed to enable a high-power battery system that provides three times more power than any existing battery system. It shows excellent cycle life and low-temperature performance, and exhibits unmatched safety characteristics.

plants are given, as well as the assumed electricity marginal generationplants are needed and total generation from those less-efficient power plants. Median marginal electricityelectricity generation. Note that this will not be the case in regions with significant coal-fired power plant

This project, the research and development of a phosphoric acid fuel cell/battery powersource integrated into test-bed buses, began as a multi-phase U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) project in 1989. Phase I had a goal of developing two competing half-scale (25 kW) brassboard phosphoric acid fuel cell systems. An air-cooled and a liquid-cooled fuel cell system were developed and tested to verify the concept of using a fuel cell and a battery in a hybrid configuration wherein the fuel cell supplies the average power required for operating the vehicle and a battery supplies the `surge` or excess power required for acceleration and hill-climbing. Work done in Phase I determined that the liquid-cooled system offered higher efficiency.

by this variability, wind generation often requires additional balancing resources to compensate for the variability of additional wind generation into the Northwest Power Pool. It quantifies the number of vehicles required area of focus for power system planning. Renewable portfolio standards and initiatives to reduce

In this paper, a new approach is presented for integrating the function of onboard battery charging into the traction drive system and accessory dc-dc converter of a plug-in electric vehicle (PEV). The idea is to utilize the segmented traction drive system of a PEV as the frond converter of the charging circuit and the transformer and high voltage converter of the 14 V accessory dc-dc converter to form a galvanically isolated onboard charger. Moreover, a control method is presented for suppressing the battery current ripple component of twice the grid frequency with the reduced dc bus capacitor in the segmented inverter. The resultant integrated charger has lower cost, weight, and volume than a standalone charger due to a substantially reduced component count. The proposed integrated charger topology was verified by modeling and experimental results on a 5.8 kW charger prototype.

with 97-98% typical efficiency. I. INTRODUCTION Batteries often constitute the energy storage systemControl of Ultracapacitor-Battery Hybrid PowerSource for Vehicular Applications Jonathan J of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. #12;Control of Ultracapacitor-Battery Hybrid Power

' the PEP S subsystem is computed by: POP, = NP POt (3. 22) where POPt = power output of the PEPS subsystem during the jth hour NP = number of PEPS units in the subsystem 25 The parameters used for designing the PEPS subsystem are taken from I5... and wind velocity data are obtained for output computation. The capacity of two unconventional subsystem is designed to be equal to each other. 5. 1 System Description Generation System For the purpose of this study, one of the EPRI reduced scenarios...

For political and practical reasons, environmental regulations sometimes treat point-source polluters, such as power plants, differently from mobile-source polluters, such as vehicles. This paper measures the extent of ...

Bulk power system reliability is of critical importance to the electricity sector. Complete and accurate information on events affecting the bulk power system is essential for assessing trends and efforts to maintain or improve reliability. Yet, current sources of this information were not designed with these uses in mind. They were designed, instead, to support real-time emergency notification to industry and government first-responders. This paper reviews information currently collected by both industry and government sources for this purpose and assesses factors that might affect their usefulness in supporting the academic literature that has relied upon them to draw conclusions about the reliability of the US electric power system.

A class of explosive magnetic flux compression generators is described that has been used successfully to power rail guns. A program to increase current magnitudes and pulse lengths is outlined. Various generator loss terms are defined and plans to overcome some of them are discussed. Included are various modifications of the conventional strip generators that are more resistant to undesirable expansion of generator components from magnetic forces. Finally, an integral rail gun is discussed that has coaxial geometry. Integral rail guns utilize the rails themselves as flux compression generator elements and, under ideal conditions, are theoretically capable of driving projectiles to arbitrarily high velocities. Integral coaxial rail guns should be superior in some regards to their square bore counterparts.

Renewable energy technologies such as photovoltaics, solar thermal power plants, and wind turbines are nonconventional, environmentally attractive sources of energy that can be considered for electric power generation. Many of the areas with abundant renewable energy resources (very sunny or windy areas) are far removed from major load centers. Although electrical power can be transmitted over long distances of many hundreds of miles through high-voltage transmission lines, power transmission systems often operate near their limits with little excess capacity for new generation sources. This study assesses the available capacity of transmission systems in designated abundant renewable energy resource regions and identifies the requirements for high-capacity plant integration in selected cases. In general, about 50 MW of power from renewable sources can be integrated into existing transmission systems to supply local loads without transmission upgrades beyond the construction of a substation to connect to the grid. Except in the Southwest, significant investment to strengthen transmission systems will be required to support the development of high-capacity renewable sources of 1000 MW or greater in areas remote from major load centers. Cost estimates for new transmission facilities to integrate and dispatch some of these high-capacity renewable sources ranged from several million dollars to approximately one billion dollars, with the latter figure an increase in total investment of 35%, assuming that the renewable source is the only user of the transmission facility.

ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel rule ORNL and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory co-2 emis- sions levels with ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. Power electronics and electric propulsion-led a comprehensive research and test program to determine the effects of diesel fuel sulfur on emissions and emission

Fuel cells are being considered increasingly as a viable alternative energy source for automobiles because of their clean and efficient power generation. Numerous technological concepts have been developed and compared in terms of safety, robust operation, fuel economy, and vehicle performance. However, several issues still exist and must be addressed to improve the viability of this emerging technology. Despite the relatively large number of models and prototypes, a model-based vehicle design capability with sufficient fidelity and efficiency is not yet available in the literature. In this article we present an analysis and design optimization model for fuel cell vehicles that can be applied to both hybrid and non-hybrid vehicles by integrating a fuel cell vehicle simulator with a physics-based fuel cell model. The integration is achieved via quasi-steady fuel cell performance maps, and provides the ability to modify the characteristics of fuel cell systems with sufficient accuracy (less than 5 % error) and efficiency (98 % computational time reduction on average). Thus, a vehicle can be optimized subject to constraints that include various performance metrics and design specifications so that the overall efficiency of the hybrid fuel cell vehicle can be improved by 14 % without violating any constraints. The obtained optimal fuel cell system is also compared to other, not vehicle-related, fuel cell systems optimized for maximum power density or maximum efficiency. A tradeoff between power density and efficiency can be observed depending on the size of compressors. Typically, a larger compressor results in higher fuel cell power density at the cost of fuel cell efficiency because it operates in a wider current region. When optimizing the fuel cell

PEVs can represent a significant power resource for the grid. An IVCI with bi-direction V2G capabilities would allow PEVs to provide grid support services and thus generate a source of revenue for PEV owners. The fleet of EV Project vehicles represents a power resource between 30 MW and 90 MW, depending on the power rating of the grid connection (5-15 kW). Aggregation of vehicle capacity would allow PEVs to participate in wholesale reserve capacity markets. One of the key insights from EV Project data is the fact that vehicles are connected to an EVSE much longer than is necessary to deliver a full charge. During these hours when the vehicles are not charging, they can be participating in wholesale power markets providing the high-value services of regulation and spinning reserves. The annual gross revenue potential for providing these services using the fleet of EV Project vehicles is several hundred thousands of dollars to several million dollars annually depending on the power rating of the grid interface, the number of hours providing grid services, and the market being served. On a per vehicle basis, providing grid services can generate several thousands of dollars over the life of the vehicle.

The objective of this study was (i) to assess the present state of technology of reformers that convert methanol (or other alternative fuels) to a hydrogen-rich gas mixture for use in a fuel cell, and (ii) to identify the R&D needs for developing reformers for transportation applications. Steam reforming and partial oxidation are the two basic types of fuel reforming processes. The former is endothermic while the latter is exothermic. Reformers are therefore typically designed as heat exchange systems, and the variety of designs used includes shell-and-tube, packed bed, annular, plate, and cyclic bed types. Catalysts used include noble metals and oxides of Cu, Zn, Cr, Al, Ni, and La. For transportation applications a reformer must be compact, lightweight, and rugged. It must also be capable of rapid start-up and good dynamic performance responsive to fluctuating loads. A partial oxidation reformer is likely to be better than a steam reformer based on these considerations, although its fuel conversion efficiency is expected to be lower than that of a steam reformer. A steam reformer better lends itself to thermal integration with the fuel cell system; however, the thermal independence of the reformer from the fuel cell stack is likely to yield much better dynamic performance of the reformer and the fuel cell propulsion power system. For both steam reforming and partial oxidation reforming, research is needed to develop compact, fast start-up, and dynamically responsive reformers. For transportation applications, steam reformers are likely to prove best for fuel cell/battery hybrid power systems, and partial oxidation reformers are likely to be the choice for stand-alone fuel cell power systems.

The objective of this study was (i) to assess the present state of technology of reformers that convert methanol (or other alternative fuels) to a hydrogen-rich gas mixture for use in a fuel cell, and (ii) to identify the R D needs for developing reformers for transportation applications. Steam reforming and partial oxidation are the two basic types of fuel reforming processes. The former is endothermic while the latter is exothermic. Reformers are therefore typically designed as heat exchange systems, and the variety of designs used includes shell-and-tube, packed bed, annular, plate, and cyclic bed types. Catalysts used include noble metals and oxides of Cu, Zn, Cr, Al, Ni, and La. For transportation applications a reformer must be compact, lightweight, and rugged. It must also be capable of rapid start-up and good dynamic performance responsive to fluctuating loads. A partial oxidation reformer is likely to be better than a steam reformer based on these considerations, although its fuel conversion efficiency is expected to be lower than that of a steam reformer. A steam reformer better lends itself to thermal integration with the fuel cell system; however, the thermal independence of the reformer from the fuel cell stack is likely to yield much better dynamic performance of the reformer and the fuel cell propulsion power system. For both steam reforming and partial oxidation reforming, research is needed to develop compact, fast start-up, and dynamically responsive reformers. For transportation applications, steam reformers are likely to prove best for fuel cell/battery hybrid power systems, and partial oxidation reformers are likely to be the choice for stand-alone fuel cell power systems.

PHEVs are expected to penetrate market soon. If recharging occurs during off-peak hours, the grid will not be significantly affected. However, peak-time recharging may lead to capacity shortfalls. This paper analyzes the potential impact of PHEVs on electricity demand, supply, generation structure, prices, and emissions levels in 2020 and 2030 in 13 U.S. regions under 7 recharging scenarios. The simulations predict that the PHEV introduction could impact demand peaks, reduce reserve margins, and increase prices. The type of power generation used to recharge the PHEVs and associated emissions will depend upon the region and the timing of the recharge.

Embodiments of DC source assemblies of power inverter systems of the type suitable for deployment in a vehicle having an electrically grounded chassis are provided. An embodiment of a DC source assembly comprises a housing, a DC source disposed within the housing, a first terminal, and a second terminal. The DC source also comprises a first capacitor having a first electrode electrically coupled to the housing, and a second electrode electrically coupled to the first terminal. The DC source assembly further comprises a second capacitor having a first electrode electrically coupled to the housing, and a second electrode electrically coupled to the second terminal.

A system for beaming power to a high altitude platform is based upon a high power millimeter gyrotron source, optical transmission components, and a high-power receiving antenna (i.e., a rectenna) capable of rectifying received millimeter energy and converting such energy into useable electrical power.

The increasing attention to environmental issues is forcing the implementation of novel energy models based on renewable sources, fundamentally changing the configuration of energy management and introducing new criticalities that are only partly understood. In particular, renewable energies introduce fluctuations causing an increased request of conventional energy sources oriented to balance energy requests on short notices. In order to develop an effective usage of low-carbon sources, such fluctuations must be understood and tamed. In this paper we present a microscopic model for the description and the forecast of short time fluctuations related to renewable sources and to their effects on the electricity market. To account for the inter-dependencies among the energy market and the physical power dispatch network, we use a statistical mechanics approach to sample stochastic perturbations on the power system and an agent based approach for the prediction of the market players behavior. Our model is a data-d...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to meet 20% of the nation's energy needs through wind power by the year 2030. To accomplish this goal, the industry will need to produce larger (> 100m diameter) turbines to increase efficiency and maximize energy production. It will be imperative to instrument the large composite structures with onboard sensing to provide structural health monitoring capabilities to understand the global response and integrity of these systems as they age. A critical component in the deployment of such a system will be a robust powersource that can operate for the lifespan of the wind turbine. In this paper we consider the use of discrete, localized powersources that derive energy from the ambient (solar, thermal) or operational (kinetic) environment. This approach will rely on a multi-source configuration that scavenges energy from photovoltaic and piezoelectric transducers. Each harvester is first characterized individually in the laboratory and then they are combined through a multi-sourcepower conditioner that is designed to combine the output of each harvester in series to power a small wireless sensor node that has active-sensing capabilities. The advantages/disadvantages of each approach are discussed, along with the proposed design for a field ready energy harvester that will be deployed on a small-scale 19.8m diameter wind turbine.

The costs and benefits of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel are compared to gasoline, natural gas, and battery-poweredvehicles. Costs, energy, efficiency, and tail-pipe and full fuel cycle emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases were estimated for hydrogen from a broad range of delivery pathways and scales: from individual vehicle refueling systems to large stations refueling 300 cars/day. Hydrogen production from natural gas, methanol, and ammonia, as well as water electrolysis based on alkaline or polymer electrolytes and steam electrolysis using solid oxide electrolytes are considered. These estimates were compared to estimates for competing fuels and vehicles, and used to construct oil use, air pollutant, and greenhouse gas emission scenarios for the U.S. passenger car fleet from 2005-2050. Fuel costs need not be an overriding concern in evaluating the suitability of hydrogen as a fuel for passenger vehicles. The combined emissions and oil import reduction benefits of hydrogen cars are estimated to be significant, valued at up to {approximately}$400/yr for each hydrogen car when primarily clean energy sources are used for hydrogen production. These benefits alone, however, become tenuous as the basis supporting a compelling rationale for hydrogen fueled vehicles, if efficient, advanced fossil-fuel hybrid electric vehicles (HEV`s) can achieve actual on-road emissions at or below ULEV standards in the 2005-2015 timeframe. It appears a robust rationale for hydrogen fuel and vehicles will need to also consider unique, strategic, and long-range benefits of hydrogen vehicles which can be achieved through the use of production, storage, delivery, and utilization methods for hydrogen which are unique among fuels: efficient use of intermittent renewable energy sources, (e,g, wind, solar), small-scale feasibility, fuel production at or near the point of use, electrolytic production, diverse storage technologies, and electrochemical conversion to electricity.

The thermoelectric generator shorting system provides the capability to monitor and short-out individual thermoelectric couples in the event of failure. This makes the series configured thermoelectric generator robust to individual thermoelectric couple failure. Open circuit detection of the thermoelectric couples and the associated short control is a key technique to ensure normal functionality of the TE generator under failure of individual TE couples. This report describes a five-year effort whose goal was the understanding the issues related to the development of a thermoelectric energy recovery device for a Class-8 truck. Likely materials and important issues related to the utility of this generator were identified. Several prototype generators were constructed and demonstrated. The generators developed demonstrated several new concepts including advanced insulation, couple bypass technology and the first implementation of skutterudite thermoelectric material in a generator design. Additional work will be required to bring this system to fruition. However, such generators offer the possibility of converting energy that is otherwise wasted to useful electric power. Uur studies indicate that this can be accomplished in a cost-effective manner for this application.

With the ever-growing developments of sustainable energy sources such as fuel cells, photovoltaics, and other distributed generation, the need for a reliable power conversion system that interfaces these sources is in great demand. In order...

to penetrate the power industry; heavy reliance is still placed on closed-source commercial software packages in the software industry, such as for language development tools (e.g., NetBeans for Java), office document, Ames, IA 50011 USA. OSS is now widely used in the software industry, such as for language development

the power industry; heavy reliance is still placed on closed-source commercial software packages. The OSS industry, such as for language development tools (e.g., NetBeans for Java), office document processors (e [2]; see Fig. 1. OSS is now widely used in the software industry, such as for language development

-ion battery with commercial super capacitors using impedance measurement were car- ried out by Chu and Braatz and the battery system were compared under a similar set of operating parameters. 2. Experimental A Sony US 18650Journal of PowerSources 134 (2004) 130­138 Performance optimization of a battery­capacitor hybrid

Flow-field Neutron imaging Water storage Residual water a b s t r a c t Liquid water stored of PowerSources journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jpowsour Passive control of liquid water storage. In some cases, the stored water content in the cell can be nearly double that of another design, despite

Journal of PowerSources 167 (2007) 265­271 Simultaneous oxygen-reduction and methanol-reduction reaction (ORR) and methanol- oxidation reaction (MOR) at the cathode of a DMFC. Good agreements between a significant poisoning effect on the ORR by the presence of methanol at the cathode. The results also indicated

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Journal of PowerSources 178 (2008) 207. The model equations allow temporal calculation of the species concentrations across the gas diffusion layers calibration; Parameter identification 1. Introduction The management of water is critical for optimizing

Journal of PowerSources 160 (2006) 1487Â­1494 Supercapacitors using carbon nanotubes films in this study. The supercapacitors built from such thin film electrodes have exhibited near-ideal rectangular kW kg-1 . More importantly, the supercapacitors showed superior frequency response, with a frequency

A power system for a motor vehicle having an internal combustion engine, the power system comprises an electric machine (12) further comprising a first excitation source (47), a permanent magnet rotor (28) and a magnetic coupling rotor (26) spaced from the permanent magnet rotor and at least one second excitation source (43), the magnetic coupling rotor (26) also including a flywheel having an inertial mass to store kinetic energy during an initial acceleration to an operating speed; and wherein the first excitation source is electrically connected to the second excitation source for power cycling such that the flywheel rotor (26) exerts torque on the permanent magnet rotor (28) to assist braking and acceleration of the permanent magnet rotor (28) and consequently, the vehicle. An axial gap machine and a radial gap machine are disclosed and methods of the invention are also disclosed.

This report was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Existing Plants Research Program, which has an energy-water research effort that focuses on water use at power plants. This study complements the Existing Plants Research Program's overall research effort by evaluating water issues that could impact power plants. Obtaining adequate water supplies for cooling and other operations at a reasonable cost is a key factor in siting new and maintaining existing thermoelectric power plant operations. One way to reduce freshwater consumption is to use alternative water sources such as reclaimed (or recycled) water, mine pool water, and other nontraditional sources. The use of these alternative sources can pose institutional challenges that can cause schedule delays, increase costs, or even require plants to abandon their plans to use alternative sources. This report identifies and describes a variety of institutional challenges experienced by power plant owners and operators across the country, and for many of these challenges it identifies potential mitigating approaches. The information comes from publically available sources and from conversations with power plant owners/operators familiar with using alternative sources. Institutional challenges identified in this investigation include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) Institutional actions and decisions that are beyond the control of the power plant. Such actions can include changes in local administrative policies that can affect the use of reclaimed water, inaccurate growth projections regarding the amount of water that will be available when needed, and agency workloads and other priorities that can cause delays in the permitting and approval processes. (2) Developing, cultivating, and maintaining institutional relationships with the purveyor(s) of the alternative water source, typically a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), and with the local political organizations that can influence decisions regarding the use of the alternative source. Often a plan to use reclaimed water will work only if local politics and power plant goals converge. Even then, lengthy negotiations are often needed for the plans to come to fruition. (3) Regulatory requirements for planning and developing associated infrastructure such as pipelines, storage facilities, and back-up supplies that can require numerous approvals, permits, and public participation, all of which can create delays and increased costs. (4) Permitting requirements that may be difficult to meet, such as load-based discharge limits for wastewater or air emissions limitations for particulate matter (which will be in the mist of cooling towers that use reclaimed water high in dissolved solids). (5) Finding discharge options for cooling tower blowdown of reclaimed water that are acceptable to permitting authorities. Constituents in this wastewater can limit options for discharge. For example, discharge to rivers requires National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits whose limits may be difficult to meet, and underground injection can be limited because many potential injection sites have already been claimed for disposal of produced waters from oil and gas wells or waters associated with gas shale extraction. (6) Potential liabilities associated with using alternative sources. A power plant can be liable for damages associated with leaks from reclaimed water conveyance systems or storage areas, or with mine water that has been contaminated by unscrupulous drillers that is subsequently discharged by the power plant. (7) Community concerns that include, but are not limited to, increased saltwater drift on farmers fields; the possibility that the reclaimed water will contaminate local drinking water aquifers; determining the 'best' use of WWTP effluent; and potential health concerns associated with emissions from the cooling towers that use recycled water. (8) Interveners that raise public concerns about the potential for emissions of emergi

The technical and economic feasibility of using hydrothermal resources as a primary powersource for both existing and future aluminum reduction plants in the United States is explored. Applicable hydrothermal resources that should be considered by the aluminum industry for this purpose were identified and evaluated. This work also identified the major institutional parameters to be considered in developing geothermal energy resources for aluminum industry use. Based on the findings of this study, it appears technically and economically feasible to power existing aluminum reduction plants in the Pacific Northwest using electricity generated at Roosevelt Hot Springs, Utah. It may also be feasible to power existing plants located on the Gulf Coast from Roosevelt Hot Springs, depending on the cost of transmitting the power.

Renewable energy technologies such as photovoltaic, solar thermal electricity, and wind turbine power are environmentally beneficial sources of electric power generation. The integration of renewable energy sources into electric power distribution systems can provide additional economic benefits because of a reduction in the losses associated with transmission and distribution lines. Benefits associated with the deferment of transmission and distribution investment may also be possible for cases where there is a high correlation between peak circuit load and renewable energy electric generation, such as photovoltaic systems in the Southwest. Case studies were conducted with actual power distribution system data for seven electric utilities with the participation of those utilities. Integrating renewable energy systems into electric power distribution systems increased the value of the benefits by about 20 to 55% above central station benefits in the national regional assessment. In the case studies presented in Vol. II, the range was larger: from a few percent to near 80% for a case where costly investments were deferred. In general, additional savings of at least 10 to 20% can be expected by integrating at the distribution level. Wind energy systems were found to be economical in good wind resource regions, whereas photovoltaic systems costs are presently a factor of 2.5 too expensive under the most favorable conditions.

To support the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI), a study was performed to investigate power system alternatives for the rover vehicles and servicers that were subsequently generated for each of these rovers and servicers, candidate powersources incorporating various power generation and energy storage technologies were identified. The technologies were those believed most appropriate to the SEI missions, and included solar, electrochemical, and isotope systems. The candidates were characterized with respect to system mass, deployed area, and volume. For each of the missions a preliminary selection was made. Results of this study depict the available powersources in light of mission requirements as they are currently defined.

The Fermilab Antiproton Source Accumulator and Debuncher rings require 5 kickers in total. These range in design from conventional ferrite delay line type magnets, with ceramic beam tubes to mechanically complex shuttered kickers situated entirely in the Accumulator Ring's 10/sup -10/ torr vacuum. Power supplies are thyratron switched pulse forming networks that produce microsecond width pulses of several kiloamps with less than 30 nanoseconds rise and fall times. Kicker and power supply design requirements for field strength, vacuum, rise and fall time, timing and magnetic shielding of the stacked beam in the accumulator by the eddy current shutter will be discussed. 8 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs.

by anticipating battery-charging decisions and power plant energy sources across Texas. Life-cycle impacts conventional passenger cars in Texas, after recognizing the emissions and energy impacts of battery provision-duty vehicles. Use of coal for electricity production is a primary concern for PEV growth, but the energy

We have investigated the effect of applying microwave power at the electron cyclotron frequency on the characteristics of the ion beam extracted from a hot-cathode PIG ion source. No change was seen in the ion charge state distribution. A small but significant reduction in the beam noise level was seen, and it is possible that the technique may find application in situations where beam quiescence is important. 32 refs., 2 figs.

At an international conference on global warming, held in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997, the United States committed to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 7% over its 1990 level by the year 2012. To help achieve that goal, transportation GHG emissions need to be reduced. Using Argonne's fuel-cycle model, I estimated GHG emissions reduction potentials of various near- and long-term transportation technologies. The estimated per-mile GHG emissions results show that alternative transportation fuels and advanced vehicle technologies can help significantly reduce transportation GHG emissions. Of the near-term technologies evaluated in this study, electric vehicles; hybrid electric vehicles; compression-ignition, direct-injection vehicles; and E85 flexible fuel vehicles can reduce fuel-cycle GHG emissions by more than 25%, on the fuel-cycle basis. Electric vehiclespowered by electricity generated primarily from nuclear and renewable sources can reduce GHG emissions by 80%. Other alternative fuels, such as compressed natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, offer limited, but positive, GHG emission reduction benefits. Among the long-term technologies evaluated in this study, conventional spark ignition and compression ignition engines powered by alternative fuels and gasoline- and diesel-powered advanced vehicles can reduce GHG emissions by 10% to 30%. Ethanol dedicated vehicles, electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel-cell vehicles can reduce GHG emissions by over 40%. Spark ignition engines and fuel-cell vehiclespowered by cellulosic ethanol and solar hydrogen (for fuel-cell vehicles only) can reduce GHG emissions by over 80%. In conclusion, both near- and long-term alternative fuels and advanced transportation technologies can play a role in reducing the United States GHG emissions.

Here, we describe a source of high-power ultrawideband radiation with elliptical polarization. The source consisting of a monopolar pulse generator, a bipolar pulse former, and a helical antenna placed into a radioparent container may be used in tests for electromagnetic compatibility. In the source, the helical antenna with the number of turns N = 4 is excited with a high-voltage bipolar pulse. Preliminary, we examined helical antennas at a low-voltage source aiming to select an optimal N and to estimate a radiation center position and boundary of a far-field zone. Finally, characteristics of the source in the operating mode at a pulse repetition rate of 100 Hz are presented in the paper as well. Energy efficiency of the antenna is 0.75 at the axial ratio equal to 1.3. The effective potential of radiation of the source at the voltage amplitudes of the bipolar pulse generator equal to -175/+200 kV reaches 280 kV.

This paper reviews previous theoretical and experimental study on the possibility of nuclear events in multilayer thin film electrodes (Lipson et al., 2004 and 2005; Miley et al., 2007), including the correlation between excess heat and transmutations (Miley and Shrestha, 2003) and the cluster theory that predicts it. As a result of this added understanding of cluster reactions, a new class of electrodes is under development at the University of Illinois. These electrodes are designed to enhance cluster formation and subsequent reactions. Two approaches are under development. The first employs improved loading-unloading techniques, intending to obtain a higher volumetric density of sites favoring cluster formation. The second is designed to create nanostructures on the electrode where the cluster state is formed by electroless deposition of palladium on nickel micro structures. Power units employing these electrodes should offer unique advantages for space applications. This is a fundamental new nuclear energy source that is environmentally compatible with a minimum of radiation involvement, high specific power, very long lifetime, and scalable from micro power to kilowatts.

Minimization of DC Reactor and Operation Characteristics of Direct-Power-Controlled Current describes a direct-power-controlled current-source PWM rectifier, and presents operation characteristics modes on the basis of a relay control technique of instantaneous active and reactive power, using

A high power water load for microwave and millimeter wave radio frequency sources has a front wall including an input port for the application of RF power, a cylindrical dissipation cavity lined with a dissipating material having a thickness which varies with depth, and a rear wall including a rotating reflector for the reflection of wave energy inside the cylindrical cavity. The dissipation cavity includes a water jacket for removal of heat generated by the absorptive material coating the dissipation cavity, and this absorptive material has a thickness which is greater near the front wall than near the rear wall. Waves entering the cavity reflect from the rotating reflector, impinging and reflecting multiple times on the absorptive coating of the dissipation cavity, dissipating equal amounts of power on each internal reflection.

The operation of a cascaded arc hydrogen plasma source was experimentally investigated to provide an empirical basis for the scaling of this source to higher plasma fluxes and efficiencies. The flux and efficiency were determined as a function of the input power, discharge channel diameter, and hydrogen gas flow rate. Measurements of the pressure in the arc channel show that the flow is well described by Poiseuille flow and that the effective heavy particle temperature is approximately 0.8 eV. Interpretation of the measured I-V data in terms of a one-parameter model shows that the plasma production is proportional to the input power, to the square root of the hydrogen flow rate, and is independent of the channel diameter. The observed scaling shows that the dominant power loss mechanism inside the arc channel is one that scales with the effective volume of the plasma in the discharge channel. Measurements on the plasma output with Thomson scattering confirm the linear dependence of the plasma production on the input power. Extrapolation of these results shows that (without a magnetic field) an improvement in the plasma production by a factor of 10 over where it was in van Rooij et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 121501 (2007)] should be possible.

Integrating a high share of electricity from non-dispatchable Renewable Energy Sources in a power supply system is a challenging task. One option considered in many studies dealing with prospective power systems is the installation of storage devices to balance the fluctuations in power production. However, it is not yet clear how soon storage devices will be needed and how the integration process depends on different storage parameters. Using long-term solar and wind energy power production data series, we present a modelling approach to investigate the influence of storage size and efficiency on the pathway towards a 100% RES scenario. Applying our approach to data for Germany, we found that up to 50% of the overall electricity demand can be met by an optimum combination of wind and solar resources without both curtailment and storage devices if the remaining energy is provided by sufficiently flexible power plants. Our findings show further that the installation of small, but highly efficient storage devic...

Measurements of the width of the radio bridge at several locations along the bridge for each of four powerful extended radio sources are presented. Adopting a few simple assumptions, these measurements may be used to predict the radio surface brightness as a function of position across the radio bridge. The predicted and observed surface brightnesses across the bridges are compared and found to agree fairly well. The results are consistent with a simple picture in which the radio power and size of the radio lobe at the forward edge of the radio bridge are roughly time-independent for a given source, and the expansion of the bridge in the lateral direction is adiabatic. There is no indication that reacceleration or energy transport is important in the bridges of these sources. The rate of lateral expansion of the bridge just behind the radio lobe and hotspot in terms of the rate of forward propagation is compared with that predicted, and found to be in good agreement with the predicted value.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has favorable characteristics as a vehicular fuel, in terms of fuel economy as well as emissions. Using CNG as a fuel in a series hybrid vehicle has the potential of resulting in very high fuel economy (between 26 and 30 km/liter, 60 to 70 mpg) and very low emissions (substantially lower than Federal Tier II or CARB ULEV). This paper uses a vehicle evaluation code and an optimizer to find a set of vehicle parameters that result in optimum vehicle fuel economy. The vehicle evaluation code used in this analysis estimates vehiclepower performance, including engine efficiency and power, generator efficiency, energy storage device efficiency and state-of-charge, and motor and transmission efficiencies. Eight vehicle parameters are selected as free variables for the optimization. The optimum vehicle must also meet two perfect requirements: accelerate to 97 km/h in less than 10 s, and climb an infinitely long hill with a 6% slope at 97 km/h with a 272 kg (600 lb.) payload. The optimizer used in this work was originally developed in the magnetic fusion energy program, and has been used to optimize complex systems, such as magnetic and inertial fusion devices, neutron sources, and mil guns. The optimizer consists of two parts: an optimization package for minimizing non-linear functions of many variables subject to several non-linear equality and/or inequality constraints and a programmable shell that allows interactive configuration and execution of the optimizer. The results of the analysis indicate that the CNG series hybrid vehicle has a high efficiency and low emissions. These results emphasize the advantages of CNG as a near-term alternative fuel for vehicles.

-rate charging of plug-in electric vehicles allows demand to be rapidly modulated, providing an alter- native growing electricity sources in the United States [3], wind can be expected to meet a large proportion vehicles (BEVs), create additional electricity demand, resulting in additional air emissions from power

A new klystron based X-band rf powersource operating at 11.994 GHz has been installed and started to be commissioned at CERN in collaboration with CEA Saclay and SLAC for CLIC accelerating structure tests. The system comprises a solid state high voltage modulator, an XL5 klystron developed by SLAC, a cavity based SLED type pulse compressor, the necessary low level rf system including rf diagnostics and interlocks and the surrounding vacuum, cooling and controls infrastructure. The system is designed to produce up to 50 MW rf pulses of 1500 ns pulse width and 50 Hz repetition rate. After pulse compression, up to 100 MW of rf power at 250 ns pulse width will be available in the structure test bunker. This paper describes in more detail this setup and the process of commissioning which is necessary to arrive at the design performance.

Both ground source heat pumps operating on electricity and micro-combined heat and power systems operating on fossil fuels offer potential for the reduction of green house gas emissions in comparison to the conventional ...

An isolated and soft-switched power converter is used for DC/DC and DC/DC/AC power conversion. The power converter includes two resonant tank circuits coupled back-to-back through an isolation transformer. Each resonant tank circuit includes a pair of resonant capacitors connected in series as a resonant leg, a pair of tank capacitors connected in series as a tank leg, and a pair of switching devices with anti-parallel clamping diodes coupled in series as resonant switches and clamping devices for the resonant leg. The power converter is well suited for DC/DC and DC/DC/AC power conversion applications in which high-voltage isolation, DC to DC voltage boost, bidirectional power flow, and a minimal number of conventional switching components are important design objectives. For example, the power converter is especially well suited to electric vehicle applications and load-side electric generation and storage systems, and other applications in which these objectives are important. The power converter may be used for many different applications, including electric vehicles, hybrid combustion/electric vehicles, fuel-cell poweredvehicles with low-voltage starting, remote powersources utilizing low-voltage DC powersources, such as photovoltaics and others, electric power backup systems, and load-side electric storage and generation systems.

Today's fleets are increasingly interested in medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles that use alternative fuels or advanced technologies that can help reduce operating costs, meet emissions requirements, improve fleet sustainability, and support U.S. energy independence. Vehicle and engine manufacturers are responding to this interest with a wide range of options across a steadily growing number of vehicle applications. This guide provides an overview of alternative fuel power systems?including engines, microturbines, electric motors, and fuel cells?and hybrid propulsion systems. The guide also offers a list of individual medium- and heavy-duty vehicle models listed by application, along with associated manufacturer contact information, fuel type(s), powersource(s), and related information.

526 IEEE JOURNAL OF OCEANIC ENGINEERING, VOL. 26, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2001 Power Systems for Autonomous Abstract--In this paper, we examine the issues involved in de- signing battery systems and power docking with reliable power and data transfer becomes critical to the system's success. Docking methods

Industrial microwave powered (electrodeless) light sources have been limited to quiescent pressures of {approximately}300 Torr of buffer gas and metal-halide fills. The predominant reason for such restrictions has been the inability to microwave ignite the plasma due to the collisionality of higher pressure fills and/or the electronegativity of halide bulb chemistries. Commercially interesting bulb fills require electric fields for ionization that are often large multiples of the breakdown voltage for air. Many auxiliary ignition methods are evaluated for efficiency and practicality before the choice of a high-voltage system with a retractable external electrode. The scheme utilizes a high voltage pulse power supply and a novel field emission source. Acting together they create localized condition of pressure reduction and high free electron density. This allows the normal microwave fields to drive this small region into avalanche, ignite the bulb, and heat the plasma to its operating point (T{sub e} {approx} 0.5 eV). This process is currently being used in a new generation of lamps, which are using multi-atmospheric excimer laser chemistries and pressure and constituent enhanced metal-halide systems. At the present time, production prototypes produce over 900 W of radiation in a 30 nm band, centered at 308 nm. Similarly, these prototypes when loaded with metal-halide bulb fills produce over 1 kW of radiation in 30 nm wide bands, centered about the wavelength of interest.

the steps of analyzing the energy outputs and economics of a solar, wind, or geothermal project. NREL power towers. SAM even calculates the value of saved energy from a domestic solar water heating systeminnovati n The energy market is diversifying. In addition to traditional powersources, decision

rf power system for thrust measurements of a helicon plasma source Alexander W. Kieckhafer measurement stand and showed that rf power has no statistically significant contribution to the thrust stand now, a true thrust diagnostic that can measure thrust of a rf device does not exist. A helicon plasma

The purpose of the present work is to investigate novel approaches, materials, and molecules for the abatement of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the pre-combustion stage of gasification-based power generation point sources. The capture/separation step for CO2 from large point sources is a critical one with respect to the technical feasibility and cost of the overall carbon sequestration scenario. For large point sources, such as those found in power generation, the carbon dioxide capture techniques being investigated by the Office of Research and Development of the National Energy Technology Laboratory possess the potential for improved efficiency and reduced costs as compared to more conventional technologies. The investigated techniques can have wide applications, but the present research is focused on the capture/separation of carbon dioxide from fuel gas (precombustion gas) from processes such as the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) process. For such applications, novel concepts are being developed in wet scrubbing with physical sorption, chemical sorption with solid sorbents, and separation by membranes. In one concept, a wet scrubbing technique is being investigated that uses a physical solvent process to remove CO2 from fuel gas of an IGCC system at elevated temperature and pressure. The need to define an “ideal” solvent has led to the study of the solubility and mass transfer properties of various solvents. Pertaining to another separation technology, fabrication techniques and mechanistic studies for membranes separating CO2 from the fuel gas produced by coal gasification are also being performed. Membranes that consist of CO2-philic ionic liquids encapsulated into a polymeric substrate have been investigated for permeability and selectivity. Finally, processes based on dry, regenerable sorbents are additional techniques for CO2 capture from fuel gas. An overview of these novel techniques is presented along with a research progress status of technologies related to membranes and physical solvents.

In 1962 tile US Atomic Energy Commission published TID-14844, ``Calculation of Distance Factors for Power and Test Reactors`` which specified a release of fission products from the core to the reactor containment for a postulated accident involving ``substantial meltdown of the core``. This ``source term``, tile basis for tile NRC`s Regulatory Guides 1.3 and 1.4, has been used to determine compliance with tile NRC`s reactor site criteria, 10 CFR Part 100, and to evaluate other important plant performance requirements. During the past 30 years substantial additional information on fission product releases has been developed based on significant severe accident research. This document utilizes this research by providing more realistic estimates of the ``source term`` release into containment, in terms of timing, nuclide types, quantities and chemical form, given a severe core-melt accident. This revised ``source term`` is to be applied to the design of future light water reactors (LWRs). Current LWR licensees may voluntarily propose applications based upon it.

This research is focused on designing a new generation of CAD tools that could help a ”hybrid vehicle” designer with the design process to come up with better vehicle configurations. The conventional design process for any type of hybrid...

missions with limited on­board power. The harsh seawater environment can lead to early deterioration the vehicle's range of operating conditions. A vehicle that has the capability to change its buoy­ ancy (e

MIT Vehicle Design Summit is building ArchiMITes, a lightweight hybrid vehicle with a modular auxiliary power unit. For testing purposes, the vehicle platform will first be built as an all-electric vehicle. It will be ...

The second international workshop on the physics enabled by the unique combination of high-power lasers with the world-class Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) free-electron X-ray laser beam was held in Stanford, CA, on October 7–8, 2014. The workshop was co-organized by UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratories. More than 120 scientists, including 40 students and postdoctoral scientists who are working in high-intensity laser-matter interactions, fusion research, and dynamic high-pressure science came together from North America, Europe, and Asia. The focus of the second workshop was on scientific highlights and the lessons learned from 16 newmore »experiments that were performed on the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) instrument since the first workshop was held one year ago.« less

Over the past 30 yr. the U.S. Government has evolved a process for the safety review and launch approval of nuclear powersources (NPSs) proposed for launch into space. This process, which involves a number of governmental agencies, ensures that the various postulated accident scenarios are considered, that the responses of the NPSs to the accident environments are assessed, and that appropriate elements of the Federal Government are involved in the launch approval. This process has worked very well in the successful launches of 37 radioisotope thermoelectric generators and 1 reactor by the United States since 1961. Particular attention will be focused on the recent launch of the Galileo spacecraft. 19 refs., 12 figs., 4 tabs.

the integration of new renewable energy sources, electric vehicles and smart household appliances with the grid and industry leaders to drive forward innovation and efficiencies in energy and smart grid technologiesprismprismNo 258/February 2011 Smarter Grid reSearch centre powerS up The University has unveiled

The capture/separation step for carbon dioxide (CO2) from large-point sources is a critical one with respect to the technical feasibility and cost of the overall carbon sequestration scenario. For large-point sources, such as those found in power generation, the carbon dioxide capture techniques being investigated by the in-house research area of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) possess the potential for improved efficiency and costs as compared to more conventional technologies. The investigated techniques can have wide applications, but the research has focused on capture/separation of carbon dioxide from flue gas (postcombustion from fossil fuel-fired combustors) and from fuel gas (precombustion, such as integrated gasification combined cycle or IGCC). Novel concepts are being developed in wet scrubbing with either chemical or physical absorption; chemical absorption or adsorption with solid sorbents; and separation by membranes, including an electrochemical cell device. In one concept, a wet scrubbing technique is being investigated that uses an ammonia-based solvent to absorb carbon dioxide from the flue gas of a pulverized coal-fired power plant. In contrast, a physical solvent process to remove CO2 from fuel gas of an IGCC system at elevated temperature and pressure is being developed. Solid, regenerable sorbents that can be employed in either flue gas or fuel gas applications are being investigated. These sorbents can be regenerated via a temperature and/or pressure swing, and certain sorbent properties need consideration with respect to the final design system for each respective sorbent. Fabrication techniques and mechanistic studies for membranes separating CO2 from the fuel gas produced by coal gasification are also being performed. In an application for CO2 separation in flue gas, an electrochemical membrane is being developed that can produce a CO2/O2 stream that can be fed to an oxy-fired combustion unit. An overview of the various novel techniques is presented along with a research progress status of each technology.

BEEST Project: The U.S. spends nearly a $1 billion per day to import petroleum, but we need dramatically better batteries for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles (EV/PHEV) to truly compete with gasoline-powered cars. The 10 projects in ARPA-E’s BEEST Project, short for “Batteries for Electrical Energy Storage in Transportation,” could make that happen by developing a variety of rechargeable battery technologies that would enable EV/PHEVs to meet or beat the price and performance of gasoline-powered cars, and enable mass production of electric vehicles that people will be excited to drive.

the dynamic power consumption, without degrading the performance determined assuming that the circuit operates performance systems are characterized by large power dissipation. This transforms to heat that can lead, there is no guarantee that the algorithm produces optimal results. A technique to reduce power consumption has been

sources. Sources of human made or excess atmospheric nitrogen include power plants, vehicle exhaust, oil are working with industry to reduce significant sources of nitrogen emissions. The State of Colorado will use at CSU is focused on identifying and refining voluntary best management practices (BMPs) for agricultural

Sacred Cars? Cost-Effective Regulation of Stationary and Non-stationary Pollution Sources Meredith reasons, environmental regulations sometimes treat point source polluters, such as power plants, differently from mobile source polluters, such as vehicles. This paper measures the extent of this regulatory

economy standards on motor vehicles by states such as California. But the states have also targeted stationary sources of greenhouse gases. In particular, they have sought to minimize carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. States have used...

Why OSS for wholesale power markets?Why OSS for wholesale power markets? DCOPFJ: A DC optimal power Page (Code Release Site): www.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/DCOPFJHome.htm #12;4 Why OSS for Wholesale Power Markets?Why OSS for Wholesale Power Markets? In April 2003, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory

Estimation of the caesium-137 source term from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant using during the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011. In Winiarek et al. (2012b source term from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant using a consistent joint assimilation of air

A major blackout affecting 50 million people in the Northeast United States, where insufficient reactive power supply was an issue, and an increased number of filings made to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by generators for reactive power has led to a closer look at reactive power supply and compensation. The Northeastern Massachusetts region is one such area where there is an insufficiency in reactive power compensation. Distributed energy due to its close proximity to loads seems to be a viable option for solving any present or future reactive power shortage problems. Industry experts believe that supplying reactive power from synchronized distributed energy sources can be 2 to 3 times more effective than providing reactive support in bulk from longer distances at the transmission or generation level. Several technology options are available to supply reactive power from distributed energy sources such as small generators, synchronous condensers, fuel cells or microturbines. In addition, simple payback analysis indicates that investments in DG to provide reactive power can be recouped in less than 5 years when capacity payments for providing reactive power are larger than $5,000/kVAR and the DG capital and installation costs are lower than $30/kVAR. However, the current institutional arrangements for reactive power compensation present a significant barrier to wider adoption of distributed energy as a source of reactive power. Furthermore, there is a significant difference between how generators and transmission owners/providers are compensated for reactive power supplied. The situation for distributed energy sources is even more difficult, as there are no arrangements to compensate independent DE owners interested in supplying reactive power to the grid other than those for very large IPPs. There are comparable functionality barriers as well, as these smaller devices do not have the control and communications requirements necessary for automatic operation in response to local or system operators. There are no known distributed energy asset owners currently receiving compensation for reactive power supply or capability. However, there are some cases where small generators on the generation and transmission side of electricity supply have been tested and have installed the capability to be dispatched for reactive power support. Several concerns need to be met for distributed energy to become widely integrated as a reactive power resource. The overall costs of retrofitting distributed energy devices to absorb or produce reactive power need to be reduced. There needs to be a mechanism in place for ISOs/RTOs to procure reactive power from the customer side of the meter where distributed energy resides. Novel compensation methods should be introduced to encourage the dispatch of dynamic resources close to areas with critical voltage issues. The next phase of this research will investigate in detail how different options of reactive power producing DE can compare both economically and functionally with shunt capacitor banks. Shunt capacitor banks, which are typically used for compensating reactive power consumption of loads on distribution systems, are very commonly used because they are very cost effective in terms of capital costs. However, capacitor banks can require extensive maintenance especially due to their exposure to lightning at the top of utility poles. Also, it can be problematic to find failed capacitor banks and their maintenance can be expensive, requiring crews and bucket trucks which often requires total replacement. Another shortcoming of capacitor banks is the fact that they usually have one size at a location (typically sized as 300, 600, 900 or 1200kVAr) and thus don't have variable range as do reactive power producing DE, and cannot respond to dynamic reactive power needs. Additional future work is to find a detailed methodology to identify the hidden benefit of DE for providing reactive power and the best way to allocate the benefit among customers, utilities, transmission companies or RTOs.

The capture/separation step for carbon dioxide (CO2) from large-point sources is a critical one with respect to the technical feasibility and cost of the overall carbon sequestration scenario. For large-point sources, such as those found in power generation, the carbon dioxide capture techniques being investigated by the in-house research area of the National Energy Technology Laboratory possess the potential for improved efficiency and costs as compared to more conventional technologies. The investigated techniques can have wide applications, but the research has focused on capture/separation of carbon dioxide from flue gas (postcombustion from fossil fuel-fired combustors) and from fuel gas (precombustion, such as integrated gasification combined cycle – IGCC). With respect to fuel gas applications, novel concepts are being developed in wet scrubbing with physical absorption; chemical absorption with solid sorbents; and separation by membranes. In one concept, a wet scrubbing technique is being investigated that uses a physical solvent process to remove CO2 from fuel gas of an IGCC system at elevated temperature and pressure. The need to define an ideal solvent has led to the study of the solubility and mass transfer properties of various solvents. Fabrication techniques and mechanistic studies for hybrid membranes separating CO2 from the fuel gas produced by coal gasification are also being performed. Membranes that consist of CO2-philic silanes incorporated into an alumina support or ionic liquids encapsulated into a polymeric substrate have been investigated for permeability and selectivity. An overview of two novel techniques is presented along with a research progress status of each technology.

The capture/separation step for carbon dioxide (CO2) from large-point sources is a critical one with respect to the technical feasibility and cost of the overall carbon sequestration scenario. For large-point sources, such as those found in power generation, the carbon dioxide capture techniques being investigated by the in-house research area of the National Energy Technology Laboratory possess the potential for improved efficiency and reduced costs as compared to more conventional technologies. The investigated techniques can have wide applications, but the research has focused on capture/separation of carbon dioxide from flue gas (post-combustion from fossil fuel-fired combustors) and from fuel gas (precombustion, such as integrated gasification combined cycle or IGCC). With respect to fuel gas applications, novel concepts are being developed in wet scrubbing with physical absorption; chemical absorption with solid sorbents; and separation by membranes. In one concept, a wet scrubbing technique is being investigated that uses a physical solvent process to remove CO2 from fuel gas of an IGCC system at elevated temperature and pressure. The need to define an ideal solvent has led to the study of the solubility and mass transfer properties of various solvents. Pertaining to another separation technology, fabrication techniques and mechanistic studies for membranes separating CO2 from the fuel gas produced by coal gasification are also being performed. Membranes that consist of CO2-philic ionic liquids encapsulated into a polymeric substrate have been investigated for permeability and selectivity. Finally, dry, regenerable processes based on sorbents are additional techniques for CO2 capture from fuel gas. An overview of these novel techniques is presented along with a research progress status of technologies related to membranes and physical solvents.

there is a significant body of work related to hybrid passenger cars and light commercial trucks, there are many open and power management of the hydraulic hybrid propulsion system for the 6 × 6 medium truck Z. Filipi*, L, MI 48109-2121, USA National Automotive Center, US Army RDECOM Abstract: Hybrid propulsion systems

A comparative life cycle assessment of diesel and compressed natural gas powered refuse collection by the City of Surrey in British Columbia are utilized. c The life cycle energy use is similar for diesel and CNG RCVs. c A 24% reduction of GHG emissions (CO2-equivalent) may be realized by switching from diesel

and electric vehicles. Over the past decade, the DMFC with the fuel fed by a liquid pump and oxidant fed October 2005 Abstract A passive liquid feed direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) with neither liquid pump nor of the passive DMFC can yield better performance, the fuel utilization at this orientation is lower as a result

rate, etc., on water crossover through the membrane in situ in a DMFC. Water crossover through; Diffusion layer; Back convection 1. Introduction The liquid-fed direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), offering electronic devices, electric vehicles and other mobile applications. However, the commercialization of DMFCs

An Energy Management Controller to Optimally Trade Off Fuel Economy and Drivability for Hybrid Abstract--Hybrid Vehicle fuel economy performance is highly sensitive to the energy management strategy used to regulate power flow among the various energy sources and sinks. Optimal non-causal solutions

A fueling facility and method for dispensing liquid natural gas (LNG), compressed natural gas (CNG) or both on-demand. The fueling facility may include a source of LNG, such as cryogenic storage vessel. A low volume high pressure pump is coupled to the source of LNG to produce a stream of pressurized LNG. The stream of pressurized LNG may be selectively directed through an LNG flow path or to a CNG flow path which includes a vaporizer configured to produce CNG from the pressurized LNG. A portion of the CNG may be drawn from the CNG flow path and introduced into the CNG flow path to control the temperature of LNG flowing therethrough. Similarly, a portion of the LNG may be drawn from the LNG flow path and introduced into the CNG flow path to control the temperature of CNG flowing therethrough.

It is widely recognized that simulation is pivotal to vehicle development, whether manned or unmanned. There are few dedicated choices, however, for those wishing to perform realistic, end-to-end simulations of unmanned ...

Abstract--Environmentally friendly technologies such as photovoltaics and fuel cells are DC sources in pollution [1]. The most well-known green technologies include photovoltaics and wind turbines. Although fuel, fuel cells and photovoltaics, produce direct current (DC). Currently, power system infrastructures

Journal of PowerSources xxx (2006) xxx­xxx The impact of channel path length on PEMFC flow of channels. These results may be used to develop universal heuristics and dimensionless number correlations under the ribs in a PEMFC using a single phase non-isothermal PEMFC model in the finite ele- ment code

-Sanchez June 2008 SSL # 9-08 #12;#12;1 Power Balance in a Helicon Plasma Source for Space Propulsion Daniel B. White Jr., Manuel Martinez-Sanchez June 2008 SSL # 9-08 This work is based on the unaltered text

The nuclear power community in the United States is moving to modernize aging power plant control rooms as well as develop control rooms for new reactors. New generation control rooms, along with modernized control rooms, ...

Disclosed is an illumination source comprising a porous silicon having a source of electrons on the surface and/or interstices thereof having a total porosity in the range of from about 50 v/o to about 90 v/o. Also disclosed are a tritiated porous silicon and a photovoltaic device and an illumination source of tritiated porous silicon. 1 fig.

An illumination source is disclosed comprising a porous silicon having a source of electrons on the surface and/or interstices thereof having a total porosity in the range of from about 50 v/o to about 90 v/o. Also disclosed are a tritiated porous silicon and a photovoltaic device and an illumination source of tritiated porous silicon. 1 fig.

An illumination source comprising a porous silicon having a source of electrons on the surface and/or interticies thereof having a total porosity in the range of from about 50 v/o to about 90 v/o. Also disclosed are a tritiated porous silicon and a photovoltaic device and an illumination source of tritiated porous silicon.

An illumination source comprising a porous silicon having a source of electrons on the surface and/or interticies thereof having a total porosity in the range of from about 50 v/o to about 90 v/o. Also disclosed are a tritiated porous silicon and a photovoltaic device and an illumination source of tritiated porous silicon.

The proven value of DOD Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will ultimately transition to National and Homeland Security missions that require real-time aerial surveillance, situation awareness, force protection, and sensor placement. Public services first responders who routinely risk personal safety to assess and report a situation for emergency actions will likely be the first to benefit from these new unmanned technologies. ‘Packable’ or ‘Portable’ small class UAVs will be particularly useful to the first responder. They require the least amount of training, no fixed infrastructure, and are capable of being launched and recovered from the point of emergency. All UAVs require wireless communication technologies for real- time applications. Typically on a small UAV, a low bandwidth telemetry link is required for command and control (C2), and systems health monitoring. If the UAV is equipped with a real-time Electro-Optical or Infrared (EO/Ir) video camera payload, a dedicated high bandwidth analog/digital link is usually required for reliable high-resolution imagery. In most cases, both the wireless telemetry and real-time video links will be integrated into the UAV with unity gain omni-directional antennas. With limited on-board power and payload capacity, a small UAV will be limited with the amount of radio-frequency (RF) energy it transmits to the users. Therefore, ‘packable’ and ‘portable’ UAVs will have limited useful operational ranges for first responders. This paper will discuss the limitations of small UAV wireless communications. The discussion will present an approach of utilizing a dynamic ground based real-time tracking high gain directional antenna to provide extend range stand-off operation, potential RF channel reuse, and assured telemetry and data communications from low-powered UAV deployed wireless assets.

A robotic vehicle for travel through a conduit. The robotic vehicle includes forward and rear housings each having a hub portion, and each being provided with surface engaging mechanisms for selectively engaging the walls of the conduit such that the housings can be selectively held in stationary positions within the conduit. The surface engaging mechanisms of each housing includes a plurality of extendable appendages, each of which is radially extendable relative to the operatively associated hub portion between a retracted position and a radially extended position. The robotic vehicle also includes at least three selectively extendable members extending between the forward and rear housings, for selectively changing the distance between the forward and rear housings to effect movement of the robotic vehicle.

A robotic vehicle for travel through a conduit. The robotic vehicle includes forward and rear housings each having a hub portion, and each being provided with surface engaging mechanisms for selectively engaging the walls of the conduit such that the housings can be selectively held in stationary positions within the conduit. The surface engaging mechanisms of each housing includes a plurality of extendable appendages, each of which is radially extendable relative to the operatively associated hub portion between a retracted position and a radially extended position. The robotic vehicle also includes at least three selectively extendable members extending between the forward and rear housings, for selectively changing the distance between the forward and rear housings to effect movement of the robotic vehicle.

A robotic vehicle is described for travel through a conduit. The robotic vehicle includes forward and rear housings each having a hub portion, and each being provided with surface engaging mechanisms for selectively engaging the walls of the conduit such that the housings can be selectively held in stationary positions within the conduit. The surface engaging mechanisms of each housing includes a plurality of extendible appendages, each of which is radially extendible relative to the operatively associated hub portion between a retracted position and a radially extended position. The robotic vehicle also includes at least three selectively extendible members extending between the forward and rear housings, for selectively changing the distance between the forward and rear housings to effect movement of the robotic vehicle. 20 figs.

A robotic vehicle is described for travel through a conduit. The robotic vehicle includes forward and rear housings each having a hub portion, and each being provided with surface engaging mechanisms for selectively engaging the walls of the conduit such that the housings can be selectively held in stationary positions within the conduit. The surface engaging mechanisms of each housing includes a plurality of extendable appendages, each of which is radially extendable relative to the operatively associated hub portion between a retracted position and a radially extended position. The robotic vehicle also includes at least three selectively extendable members extending between the forward and rear housings, for selectively changing the distance between the forward and rear housings to effect movement of the robotic vehicle. 20 figs.

1 Abstract--Wind energy is the fastest growing source of renewable energy in the power industry system operators, this increasing contribution of wind energy to the grid poses new challenges that need of energy. Wind energy is the fastest growing source of renewable energy in the power industry

The naval warfare environment is rapidly changing. The U.S. Navy is adapting by continuing its blue-water dominance while simultaneously building brown-water capabilities. Unmanned systems, such as unmanned airborne drones, ...

This paper demonstrates a methodology for taking variation into account in thermal and fatigue analyses of the die attach for an inverter of an electric traction drive vehicle. This method can be used to understand how variation and mission profile affect parameters of interest in a design. Three parameters are varied to represent manufacturing, material, and loading variation: solder joint voiding, aluminum nitride substrate thermal conductivity, and heat generation at the integrated gate bipolar transistor. The influence of these parameters on temperature and solder fatigue life is presented. The heat generation loading variation shows the largest influence on the results for the assumptions used in this problem setup.

Return on Investment 55 12. Cost of Power, Comparing:Juclear and Oil Plants, at Bodega Bay. . 59 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1, Relationship Between Per Capita Energy Consumption and Per Capita Income of Underdeveloped Countries for the Year... of atomic power would be where areas lack convent, ional energy resources but have highly developed power systems based on imports of foreign fuel. The installation of nuclear plants would considerably save the outlay of foreign exchange for the import...

importance, especially when high shares of renewable energy sources, and in particular intermittent energy. In particular, high shares of renew- able energy sources may become a critical aspect of future energy systems, both for centralized scheme and for distributed architecture. The integration of renewable energy

transmission power (i.e. the maximum transmit power that brings little interference to the primary network) can by flexible radios [1] is gaining more and more interest. A flexible wireless network is a set information known a priori by the secondary network: the transmitted data and the transmission channels

technology for powering portable electronic devices. Although extensive efforts have been made in developing for powering most energy-hungry electronic devices [1­4]. Technically, besides the sluggish kinetics, but also leads to a waste of fuel which lowers the overall efficiency of the cell. The ultimate solution

The U.S. Air Force, SDI, and NASA have identified increasing needs for electric power for all types of space missions. For many of these, only nuclear-electric can provide the lowest life cycle cost. Among the many different types of nuclear space power systems proposed, the NERVA Derivative Reactor, based on the proven NERVA/ROVER technology stands out as the most attractive. It can be integrated with closed and open cycle turbo-generators and open cycle MHD generators to provide the wide range of diverse power requirements that include multikilowatts to megawatts of steady state, baseload power and multi-megawatts of burst power for weapon systems. The NDR technology can be applied to these systems with relatively little additional engineering developments, which are primarily related to demonstrating compliance with the space nuclear safety requirements.

Renewable energy technologies have economic and environmental advantages in many remote applications. They can provide most of the power to off-grid loads, where batteries and another powersource such as a generator or a fuel cell may be required to ensure availability and feasibility. In support of the National Park Service, the Federal Energy Management Program Team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has evaluated several methods for providing a renewable source of electricity to a beach campsite at Kirby Cove, Marin County, California. This site requires 2 kWh per day to power a campground host in a motor home five months power year. The existing electricity line to the site is in need of replacement and the NPS is interested in evaluating more cost-effective and environmentally sensitive alternatives. Photovoltaics, tidal current, and wind power systems in combination with a back-up electric system (standard, thermoelectric, and Stirling generator and fuel cell) and an energy storage medium (battery, flywheel, and hydrogen) were analyzed. Multi-objective optimization criteria include initial cost, operating cost, emissions, maintenance requirements, and to be consistent with the NPS requirements, the system must be clean, silent, and sustainable. The best system combination was designed according to these evaluation criteria and a demonstration system is to be constructed. This paper describes the optimization procedure and design. Results indicate that a 800 Watt photovoltaic array with a hydrogen fuel cell best serves the requirements for clean, silent power. Since fuel cells are developmental, a propane generator is recommended as an alternative.

There are various kinds of autonomous vehicles (AV`s) which can operate with varying levels of autonomy. This paper is concerned with underwater, ground, and aerial vehicles operating in a fully autonomous (nonteleoperated) mode. Further, this paper deals with AV`s as a special kind of device, rather than full-scale manned vehicles operating unmanned. The distinction is one in which the AV is likely to be designed for autonomous operation rather than being adapted for it as would be the case for manned vehicles. The authors provide a survey of the technological progress that has been made in AV`s, the current research issues and approaches that are continuing that progress, and the applications which motivate this work. It should be noted that issues of control are pervasive regardless of the kind of AV being considered, but that there are special considerations in the design and operation of AV`s depending on whether the focus is on vehicles underwater, on the ground, or in the air. The authors have separated the discussion into sections treating each of these categories.

A battery control system for hybrid vehicle includes a hybrid powertrain battery, a vehicle accessory battery, and a prime mover driven generator adapted to charge the vehicle accessory battery. A detecting arrangement is configured to monitor the vehicle accessory battery's state of charge. A controller is configured to activate the prime mover to drive the generator and recharge the vehicle accessory battery in response to the vehicle accessory battery's state of charge falling below a first predetermined level, or transfer electrical power from the hybrid powertrain battery to the vehicle accessory battery in response to the vehicle accessory battery's state of charge falling below a second predetermined level. The invention further includes a method for controlling a hybrid vehicle powertrain system.

microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Electricity was generated from all carbon sources tested, including six hexoses communication Electricity production from twelve monosaccharides using microbial fuel cells Tunc Catala generation of electricity from monosaccharides of lignocellulosic biomass was examined using air cathode

Renewable sources of energy such as wind turbine generators and solar panels have attracted much attention because they are environmentally friendly, do not consume fossil fuels, and can enhance a nation’s energy security. As a result, recently more...

The use of real-time continuous dynamics monitoring often indicates dynamic behaviour that was not anticipated by model-based studies. In such cases it can be difficult to locate the sources of problems using conventional ...

]). The optimization scheme then figures out the proper split between the two energy sources using steady2002-182 1 Abstract-- Hybrid vehicle techniques have been widely studied recently because a procedure for the design of a near-optimal power management strategy. The design procedure starts

Handbook for Electrical Contractors 3 You've heard about the new generation of plug-in electric vehicles line improved the usabil- ity and affordability of ICE vehicles. Gasoline- and diesel-powered ICE

A robotic vehicle (10) for travel through an enclosed or partially enclosed conduit or pipe including vertical and/or horizontal conduit or pipe. The robotic vehicle (10) comprises forward and rear housings (32 and 12) each provided with a surface engaging mechanism for selectively engaging the walls of the conduit through which the vehicle is travelling, whereby the housings (32 and 12) are selectively held in a stationary position within the conduit. The vehicle (10) also includes at least three selectively extendable members (46), each of which defines a cavity (56) therein. The forward end portion (50) of each extendable member (46) is secured to the forward housing (32) and the rear end portion (48) of each housing is secured to the rear housing (12). Each of the extendable members (46) is independently extendable from a retracted position to an extended position upon the injection of a gas under pressure into the cavity (56) of the extendable member such that the distance between the forward housing (32 ) and the rear housing (12) can be selectively increased. Further, each of the extendable members (46) is independently retractable from the extended position to the retracted position upon the application of a vacuum to the cavity (56) of the extendable member (46) such that the distance between the forward housing (32) and the rear housing (12) can be selectively decreased.

A robotic vehicle (10) for travel through an enclosed or partially enclosed conduit or pipe including vertical and/or horizontal conduit or pipe. The robotic vehicle (10) comprises forward and rear housings (32 and 12) each provided with a surface engaging mechanism for selectively engaging the walls of the conduit through which the vehicle is travelling, whereby the housings (32 and 12) are selectively held in a stationary position within the conduit. The vehicle (10) also includes at least three selectively extendable members (46), each of which defines a cavity (56) therein. The forward end portion (50) of each extendable member (46) is secured to the forward housing (32) and the rear end portion (48) of each housing is secured to the rear housing (12). Each of the extendable members (46) is independently extendable from a retracted position to an extended position upon the injection of a gas under pressure into the cavity (56) of the extendable member such that the distance between the forward housing (32 ) and the rear housing (12) can be selectively increased. Further, each of the extendable members (46) is independently retractable from the extended position to the retracted position upon the application of a vacuum to the cavity (56) of the extendable member (46) such that the distance between the forward housing (32) and the rear housing (12) can be selectively decreased.

A robotic vehicle is described for travel through an enclosed or partially enclosed conduit or pipe including vertical and/or horizontal conduit or pipe. The robotic vehicle comprises forward and rear housings each provided with a surface engaging mechanism for selectively engaging the walls of the conduit through which the vehicle is travelling, whereby the housings are selectively held in a stationary position within the conduit. The vehicle also includes at least three selectively extendable members, each of which defines a cavity therein. The forward end portion of each extendable member is secured to the forward housing and the rear end portion of each housing is secured to the rear housing. Each of the extendable members is independently extendable from a retracted position to an extended position upon the injection of a gas under pressure into the cavity of the extendable member such that the distance between the forward housing and the rear housing can be selectively increased. Further, each of the extendable members is independently retractable from the extended position to the retracted position upon the application of a vacuum to the cavity of the extendable member such that the distance between the forward housing and the rear housing can be selectively decreased. 14 figs.

A robotic vehicle is described for travel through an enclosed or partially enclosed conduit or pipe including vertical and/or horizontal conduit or pipe. The robotic vehicle comprises forward and rear housings each provided with a surface engaging mechanism for selectively engaging the walls of the conduit through which the vehicle is travelling, whereby the housings are selectively held in a stationary position within the conduit. The vehicle also includes at least three selectively extendable members, each of which defines a cavity therein. The forward end portion of each extendable member is secured to the forward housing and the rear end portion of each housing is secured to the rear housing. Each of the extendable members is independently extendable from a retracted position to an extended position upon the injection of a gas under pressure into the cavity of the extendable member such that the distance between the forward housing and the rear housing can be selectively increased. Further, each of the extendable members is independently retractable from the extended position to the retracted position upon the application of a vacuum to the cavity of the extendable member such that the distance between the forward housing and the rear housing can be selectively decreased. 11 figures.

A power conversion apparatus includes an interfacing circuit that enables a current source inverter to operate from a voltage energy storage device (voltage source), such as a battery, ultracapacitor or fuel cell. The interfacing circuit, also referred to as a voltage-to-current converter, transforms the voltage source into a current source that feeds a DC current to a current source inverter. The voltage-to-current converter also provides means for controlling and maintaining a constant DC bus current that supplies the current source inverter. The voltage-to-current converter also enables the current source inverter to charge the voltage energy storage device, such as during dynamic braking of a hybrid electric vehicle, without the need of reversing the direction of the DC bus current.

Determining the health impacts of different sources and components of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is an important scientific goal, because PM is a complex mixture of both inorganic and organic constituents that likely differ in their potential to cause adverse health outcomes. The TERESA (Toxicological Evaluation of Realistic Emissions of Source Aerosols) study focused on two PM sources - coal-fired power plants and mobile sources - and sought to investigate the toxicological effects of exposure to realistic emissions from these sources. The DOE-EPRI Cooperative Agreement covered the performance and analysis of field experiments at three power plants. The mobile source component consisted of experiments conducted at a traffic tunnel in Boston; these activities were funded through the Harvard-EPA Particulate Matter Research Center and will be reported separately in the peer-reviewed literature. TERESA attempted to delineate health effects of primary particles, secondary (aged) particles, and mixtures of these with common atmospheric constituents. The study involved withdrawal of emissions directly from power plant stacks, followed by aging and atmospheric transformation of emissions in a mobile laboratory in a manner that simulated downwind power plant plume processing. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) derived from the biogenic volatile organic compound {alpha}-pinene was added in some experiments, and in others ammonia was added to neutralize strong acidity. Specifically, four scenarios were studied at each plant: primary particles (P); secondary (oxidized) particles (PO); oxidized particles + secondary organic aerosol (SOA) (POS); and oxidized and neutralized particles + SOA (PONS). Extensive exposure characterization was carried out, including gas-phase and particulate species. Male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed for 6 hours to filtered air or different atmospheric mixtures. Toxicological endpoints included (1) breathing pattern; (2) bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid cytology and biochemistry; (3) blood cytology; (4) in vivo oxidative stress in heart and lung tissue; and (5) heart and lung histopathology. In addition, at one plant, cardiac arrhythmias and heart rate variability (HRV) were evaluated in a rat model of myocardial infarction. Statistical analyses included analyses of variance (ANOVA) to determine differences between exposed and control animals in response to different scenario/plant combinations; univariate analyses to link individual scenario components to responses; and multivariate analyses (Random Forest analyses) to evaluate component effects in a multipollutant setting. Results from the power plant studies indicated some biological responses to some plant/scenario combinations. A number of significant breathing pattern changes were observed; however, significant clinical changes such as specific irritant effects were not readily apparent, and effects tended to be isolated changes in certain respiratory parameters. Some individual exposure scenario components appeared to be more strongly and consistently related to respiratory parameter changes; however, the specific scenario investigated remained a better predictor of response than individual components of that scenario. Bronchoalveolar lavage indicated some changes in cellularity of BAL fluid in response to the POS and PONS scenarios; these responses were considered toxicologically mild in magnitude. No changes in blood cytology were observed at any plant or scenario. Lung oxidative stress was increased with the POS scenario at one plant, and cardiac oxidative stress was increased with the PONS scenario also at one plant, suggesting limited oxidative stress in response to power plant emissions with added atmospheric constituents. There were some mild histological findings in lung tissue in response to the P and PONS scenarios. Finally, the MI model experiments indicated that premature ventricular beat frequency was increased at the plant studied, while no changes in heart rate, HRV, or electrocardiographic intervals were observed. Overall, the

-up of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) will require a better understanding of the effects of reactor architecture catholyte [16,17], but such systems are not sustainable due to the need to chemically regenerate configuration, sustainable operation, and relatively high power densities [1,14]. The liquid volumes of many air

A microengine uses two synchronized linear actuators as a powersource and converts oscillatory motion from the actuators into rotational motion via direct linkage connection to an output gear or wheel. The microengine provides output in the form of a continuously rotating output gear that is capable of delivering drive torque to a micromechanism. The microengine can be operated at varying speeds and its motion can be reversed. Linear actuators are synchronized in order to provide linear oscillatory motion to the linkage means in the X and Y directions according to a desired position, rotational direction and speed of said mechanical output means. The output gear has gear teeth on its outer perimeter for directly contacting a micromechanism requiring mechanical power. The gear is retained by a retaining means which allows said gear to rotate freely. The microengine is microfabricated of polysilicon on one wafer using surface micromachining batch fabrication. 30 figs.

Electric utility distribution system impacts associated with the integration of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines (WT) are considered in this project. The impacts are expected to vary from site to site according to the following characteristics: (1) The local solar insolation and/or wind characteristics; (2) renewable energy source penetration level; (3) whether battery or other energy storage systems are applied; and (4) local utility distribution design standards and planning practices. Small, distributed renewable energy sources are connected to the utility distribution system like other, similar kW- and MW-scale equipment and loads. Residential applications are expected to be connected to single-phase 120/240-V secondaries. Larger kw-scale applications may be connected to three-phase secondaries, and larger hundred-kW and MW-scale applications, such as MW-scale windfarms or PV plants, may be connected to electric utility primary systems via customer-owned primary and secondary collection systems. Small, distributed renewable energy sources installed on utility distribution systems will also produce nonsite-specific utility generation system benefits such as energy and capacity displacement benefits, in addition to the local site-specific distribution system benefits. Although generation system benefits are not site-specific, they are utility-specific, and they vary significantly among utilities in different regions. In addition, transmission system benefits, environmental benefits and other benefits may apply. These benefits also vary significantly among utilities and regions. Seven utility case studies considering PV, WT, and battery storage were conducted to identify a range of potential renewable energy source distribution system applications.

One of the goals of the low energy 60 MeV section of the HINS H{sup -} linac [1] is to demonstrate that a total of {approx}40 RF cavities can be powered by a single 2.5 MW, 325 MHz klystron. This requires individual vector modulators at the input of each RF cavity to independently adjust the amplitude and phase of the RF input signal during the 3.5 ms RF pulse. Two versions of vector modulators have been developed; a 500 kW device for the radiofrequency quadrupole (RFQ) and a 75 kW modulator for the RF cavities. High power tests showing the vector modulator phase and amplitude responses will be presented.

A method of recovering energy from a cool compressed gas, compressed liquid, vapor, or supercritical fluid is disclosed which includes incrementally expanding the compressed gas, compressed liquid, vapor, or supercritical fluid through a plurality of expansion engines and heating the gas, vapor, compressed liquid, or supercritical fluid entering at least one of the expansion engines with a low quality heat source. Expansion engines such as turbines and multiple expansions with heating are disclosed.

Hydropower has been a source of clean, renewable electricity in the USA for more than 100 years. Today, approximately 2500 US dams provide 78 GW of conventional and 22 GW of pumped-storage hydropower. In contrast, another approximately 80 000 dams in the USA do not include hydraulic turbine equipment and provide non-energy related services, such as flood control, water supply, navigation, and recreation.

through photovoltaic cells, and wind power generation, proto- types have been built and tested. Commercial operation of these two is expected to start in the late 1980's or early 1990's. For the rest of the alternatives the expected date of operation... appropiate for these units because they may have several derated states. However, due to the short operating experience with these units, there is not enough data available to develop more accurate models. 3. 1 Description of PEPS Photovoltaic electric...

This report summarizes the technical and educational achievements of the Graduate Automotive Technology Education (GATE) Center at West Virginia University (WVU), which was created to emphasize Advanced Hybrid Vehicle Technology. The Center has supported the graduate studies of 17 students in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. These students have addressed topics such as hybrid modeling, construction of a hybrid sport utility vehicle (in conjunction with the FutureTruck program), a MEMS-based sensor, on-board data acquisition for hybrid design optimization, linear engine design and engine emissions. Courses have been developed in Hybrid Vehicle Design, Mobile Source Powerplants, Advanced Vehicle Propulsion, Power Electronics for Automotive Applications and Sensors for Automotive Applications, and have been responsible for 396 hours of graduate student coursework. The GATE program also enhanced the WVU participation in the U.S. Department of Energy Student Design Competitions, in particular FutureTruck and Challenge X. The GATE support for hybrid vehicle technology enhanced understanding of hybrid vehicle design and testing at WVU and encouraged the development of a research agenda in heavy-duty hybrid vehicles. As a result, WVU has now completed three programs in hybrid transit bus emissions characterization, and WVU faculty are leading the Transportation Research Board effort to define life cycle costs for hybrid transit buses. Research and enrollment records show that approximately 100 graduate students have benefited substantially from the hybrid vehicle GATE program at WVU.

TERESA (Toxicological Evaluation of Realistic Emissions of Source Aerosols) involves exposing laboratory rats to realistic coal-fired power plant and mobile source emissions to help determine the relative toxicity of these PM sources. There are three coal-fired power plants in the TERESA program; this report describes the results of fieldwork conducted at the first plant, located in the Upper Midwest. The project was technically challenging by virtue of its novel design and requirement for the development of new techniques. By examining aged, atmospherically transformed aerosol derived from power plant stack emissions, we were able to evaluate the toxicity of PM derived from coal combustion in a manner that more accurately reflects the exposure of concern than existing methodologies. TERESA also involves assessment of actual plant emissions in a field setting--an important strength since it reduces the question of representativeness of emissions. A sampling system was developed and assembled to draw emissions from the stack; stack sampling conducted according to standard EPA protocol suggested that the sampled emissions are representative of those exiting the stack into the atmosphere. Two mobile laboratories were then outfitted for the study: (1) a chemical laboratory in which the atmospheric aging was conducted and which housed the bulk of the analytical equipment; and (2) a toxicological laboratory, which contained animal caging and the exposure apparatus. Animal exposures were carried out from May-November 2004 to a number of simulated atmospheric scenarios. Toxicological endpoints included (1) pulmonary function and breathing pattern; (2) bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cytological and biochemical analyses; (3) blood cytological analyses; (4) in vivo oxidative stress in heart and lung tissue; and (5) heart and lung histopathology. Results indicated no differences between exposed and control animals in any of the endpoints examined. Exposure concentrations for the scenarios utilizing secondary particles (oxidized emissions) ranged from 70-256 {micro}g/m{sup 3}, and some of the atmospheres contained high acidity levels (up to 49 {micro}g/m{sup 3} equivalent of sulfuric acid). However, caution must be used in generalizing these results to other power plants utilizing different coal types and with different plant configurations, as the emissions may vary based on these factors.

Filtered x-ray diode, (XRD), detectors are used as primary radiation flux diagnostics on Sandia`s Z-accelerator, which generates nominally a 200 TW, 2 MJ, x-ray pulse. Given such flux levels and XRD sensitivities the detectors are being fielded 23 meters from the source. The standard diagnostic setup and sensitivities are discussed. Vitreous carbon photocathodes are being used to reduce the effect of hydrocarbon contamination present in the Z-machine vacuum system. Nevertheless pre- and post-calibration data taken indicate spectrally dependent changes in the sensitivity of these detectors by up to factors up to 2 or 3.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are being developed for mass production by the automotive industry. PHEVs have been touted for their potential to reduce the US transportation sector's dependence on petroleum and cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by (1) using off-peak excess electric generation capacity and (2) increasing vehicles energy efficiency. A well-to-wheels (WTW) analysis - which examines energy use and emissions from primary energy source through vehicle operation - can help researchers better understand the impact of the upstream mix of electricity generation technologies for PHEV recharging, as well as the powertrain technology and fuel sources for PHEVs. For the WTW analysis, Argonne National Laboratory researchers used the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model developed by Argonne to compare the WTW energy use and GHG emissions associated with various transportation technologies to those associated with PHEVs. Argonne researchers estimated the fuel economy and electricity use of PHEVs and alternative fuel/vehicle systems by using the Powertrain System Analysis Toolkit (PSAT) model. They examined two PHEV designs: the power-split configuration and the series configuration. The first is a parallel hybrid configuration in which the engine and the electric motor are connected to a single mechanical transmission that incorporates a power-split device that allows for parallel power paths - mechanical and electrical - from the engine to the wheels, allowing the engine and the electric motor to share the power during acceleration. In the second configuration, the engine powers a generator, which charges a battery that is used by the electric motor to propel the vehicle; thus, the engine never directly powers the vehicle's transmission. The power-split configuration was adopted for PHEVs with a 10- and 20-mile electric range because they require frequent use of the engine for acceleration and to provide energy when the battery is depleted, while the series configuration was adopted for PHEVs with a 30- and 40-mile electric range because they rely mostly on electrical power for propulsion. Argonne researchers calculated the equivalent on-road (real-world) fuel economy on the basis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency miles per gallon (mpg)-based formulas. The reduction in fuel economy attributable to the on-road adjustment formula was capped at 30% for advanced vehicle systems (e.g., PHEVs, fuel cell vehicles [FCVs], hybrid electric vehicles [HEVs], and battery-powered electric vehicles [BEVs]). Simulations for calendar year 2020 with model year 2015 mid-size vehicles were chosen for this analysis to address the implications of PHEVs within a reasonable timeframe after their likely introduction over the next few years. For the WTW analysis, Argonne assumed a PHEV market penetration of 10% by 2020 in order to examine the impact of significant PHEV loading on the utility power sector. Technological improvement with medium uncertainty for each vehicle was also assumed for the analysis. Argonne employed detailed dispatch models to simulate the electric power systems in four major regions of the US: the New England Independent System Operator, the New York Independent System Operator, the State of Illinois, and the Western Electric Coordinating Council. Argonne also evaluated the US average generation mix and renewable generation of electricity for PHEV and BEV recharging scenarios to show the effects of these generation mixes on PHEV WTW results. Argonne's GREET model was designed to examine the WTW energy use and GHG emissions for PHEVs and BEVs, as well as FCVs, regular HEVs, and conventional gasoline internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). WTW results are reported for charge-depleting (CD) operation of PHEVs under different recharging scenarios. The combined WTW results of CD and charge-sustaining (CS) PHEV operations (using the utility factor method) were also examined and reported. According to the utility factor method, the share of vehicle miles trav

A 352-MHz fast-ferrite rf cavity tuner, manufactured by Advanced Ferrite Technology, was high-power tested on a single-cell copper rf cavity at the Advanced Photon Source. These tests measured the fast-ferrite tuner performance in terms of power handling capability, tuning bandwidth, tuning speed, stability, and rf losses. The test system comprises a single-cell copper rf cavity fitted with two identical coupling loops, one for input rf power and the other for coupling the fast-ferrite tuner to the cavity fields. The fast-ferrite tuner rf circuit consists of a cavity coupling loop, a 6-1/8-inch EIA coaxial line system with directional couplers, and an adjustable 360{sup o} mechanical phase shifter in series with the fast-ferrite tuner. A bipolar DC bias supply, controlled by a low-level rf cavity tuning loop consisting of an rf phase detector and a PID amplifier, is used to provide a variable bias current to the tuner ferrite material to maintain the test cavity at resonance. Losses in the fast-ferrite tuner are calculated from cooling water calorimetry. Test data will be presented.

A novel ultra-bright high-intensity source of X-ray and gamma radiation is suggested. It is based on the double Doppler effect, where a relativistic flying mirror reflects a counter-propagating electromagnetic radiation causing its frequency multiplication and intensification, and on the inverse double Doppler effect, where the mirror acquires energy from an ultra-intense co-propagating electromagnetic wave. The role of the flying mirror is played by a high-density thin plasma slab accelerating in the radiation pressure dominant regime. Frequencies of high harmonics generated at the flying mirror by a relativistically strong counter-propagating radiation undergo multiplication with the same factor as the fundamental frequency of the reflected radiation, approximately equal to the quadruple of the square of the mirror Lorentz factor.

A study was conducted to determine suitable energy systems for small undersea autonomous vehicles. The two main goals of this study were: (1) to evaluate energy systems able to provide 16 kW-hr for a vehicle of specified dimensions, and; (2) to evaluate energy systems that may be used in the future for longer-duration, higher-speed missions. It was concluded that silver-zinc secondary batteries are satisfactory for the low-energy requirement. There is some uncertainty about the most-suitable energy source for the higher-energy mission. There are no fully developed systems completely safe, reliable, and readily available for use. Lithium thionyl chloride batteries, and lithium sulfur hexafluoride thermal power plants are the main contenders and have comparable energy densities. There are concerns, however, about the safety and availability of each of these systems.

The design and construction of a modular test bed autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is analyzed. Although a relatively common stacked-hull design is used, the state of the art is advanced through an aggressive power ...

The development of a pollution-free transportation system that utilizes technology from the defense industry combines two industries in a commercial venture. In conjunction with the abatement of pollution that an all-electric transportation system would realize, the defense industry is looking for a commercial market for the technology that it has developed over the years. This new transportation system will accomplish both these goals. To date, the most reliable electric source has been overhead tethered lines or on-ground tracks in public transportation. But these greatly reduce the convenience of route changes and are at the mercy of small traffic pattern changes which can cause traffic tie-ups. The ideal electric bus would have a completely mobile energy source, such as a battery pack. But the limited range of a battery poweredvehicle has diminished its use to only specific cases. In private vehicles also, the limited range of zero-pollution battery power has reduced the desirability of all-electric transportation. The electric transportation system proposed here will eliminate these problems. Buses will be sent out on their routes with convenient in-route charging. There will be minimum route changes to accommodate vehicle recharging. The buses will have full mobility and can avoid any traffic tie-ups. The charging of these on-board electrical energy storage systems will take place via a wireless power transmission network that will be established along the roadside on existing power line (telephone) poles or new stand-alone poles that would be in conjunction with the existing poles. Radio frequency (RF) wavelengths such as a microwave or a millimeterwave system or optical frequencies (OF), a laser based system, are wireless energy transmission systems. Utilizing this means to establish a nationwide transportation system will take a technology that has been defense based and use it in a commercial application.

This report documents progress made on the subject project during the period of September 1, 2007 through February 28, 2007. The TERESA Study is designed to investigate the role played by specific emissions sources and components in the induction of adverse health effects by examining the relative toxicity of coal combustion and mobile source (gasoline and/or diesel engine) emissions and their oxidative products. The study involves on-site sampling, dilution, and aging of coal combustion emissions at three coal-fired power plants, as well as mobile source emissions, followed by animal exposures incorporating a number of toxicological endpoints. The DOE-EPRI Cooperative Agreement (henceforth referred to as ''the Agreement'') for which this technical progress report has been prepared covers the performance and analysis of field experiments at the first TERESA plant, located in the Upper Midwest and henceforth referred to as Plant 0, and at two additional coal-fired power plants (Plants 1 and 2) utilizing different coal types and with different plant configurations. During this reporting period, fieldwork was completed at Plant 2, located in the Midwest. The following scenarios were completed: (1) July 19-22: POS (oxidized + SOA); (2) July 25-28: PONS (oxidized + neutralized + SOA); (3) August 8-13: P (primary); (4) August 14-15: POS; (5) August 16-17: POS (MI rats); (6) August 28-31: OS (oxidized + SOA, without primary particles); (7) September 1-4: O (oxidized, no primary particles); (8) September 6-9: S (SOA, no primary particles); and (9) September 19-22: PO (oxidized). Results indicated some biological effects with some scenarios. Also during this reporting period, the annual meeting of the TERESA Technical Advisory Committee was held at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. During the next reporting period, data analyses will continue for Plant 2 as well as for pooled data from all three plants. Manuscripts documenting the overall project findings will be prepared for submission to the peer literature. Preliminary planning will begin for the mobile source component of the research (funded through the Harvard-EPA Center for PM Health Effects), scheduled to take place in 2008.

As a result of improvements in power semiconductors, moderate frequency switching supplies can now provide the hundreds of amps typically required by accelerators with zero-to-peak noise in the kHz region ~0.06% in current or voltage mode. Modeling was undertaken using a finite electromagnetic program to determine if eddy currents induced in the solid steel of CEBAF magnets and small supplemental additions would bring the error fields down to the 5ppm level needed for beam quality. The expected maximum field of the magnet under consideration is 0.85T and the DC current required to produce that field is used in the calculations. An additional 0.1% current ripple is added to the DC current at discrete frequencies 360 Hz, 720 Hz or 7200 Hz. Over the region of the pole within 0.5% of the central integrated BdL the resulting AC field changes can be reduced to less than 1% of the 0.1% input ripple for all frequencies, and a sixth of that at 7200 Hz. Doubling the current, providing 1.5T central field, yielded the sa...

for underwater vehicles. The beacons may be buoys or vehicles on the surface with access to GPS or they may for tracking vehicles is a recurring cost, we propose to minimize the energy consumption by optimizing method to find the best schedule for beacon transmissions for a fixed signaling rate (or average power

of full electric vehicles probably with hydrogen powered fuel cells. Such assumption is shared by several of the fuel cell vehicle. Chanaron and Orselli (2002) suggest that hydrogen fuel cells will not be marketableHybrid Vehicles: a Temporary Step J.J. CHANARON1 & J. TESKE2 Abstract The presented paper discusses

for Consumers 3 You've heard about the new generation of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) like the Chevy Volt. Gasoline- and diesel-powered ICE vehicles ended up dominating trans- portation in the 20th century. However Electric Ranger. Although many vehicles from this generation were discon- tinued in the early 2000s

The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) may offer a potential near term, low carbon alternative to today's gasoline- and diesel-poweredvehicles. A representative vehicle technology that runs on electricity in addition ...

A system and method for analyzing a particle in a sample stream of a flow cytometer or the like. The system has a light source, such as a laser pointer module, for generating a low powered light beam and a fluidics apparatus which is configured to transport particles in the sample stream at substantially low velocity through the light beam for interrogation. Detectors, such as photomultiplier tubes, are configured to detect optical signals generated in response to the light beam impinging the particles. Signal conditioning circuitry is connected to each of the detectors to condition each detector output into electronic signals for processing and is designed to have a limited frequency response to filter high frequency noise from the detector output signals.

A system and method for analyzing a particle in a sample stream of a flow cytometer or the like. The system has a light source, such as a laser pointer module, for generating a low powered light beam and a fluidics apparatus which is configured to transport particles in the sample stream at substantially low velocity through the light beam for interrogation. Detectors, such as photomultiplier tubes, are configured to detect optical signals generated in response to the light beam impinging the particles. Signal conditioning circuitry is connected to each of the detectors to condition each detector output into electronic signals for processing and is designed to have a limited frequency response to filter high frequency noise from the detector output signals.

The Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) prompt emission is believed to be from highly relativistic electrons accelerated in relativistic shocks. From the GRB high-energy power-law spectral indices $\\beta$ observed by the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) Large Area Detectors (LAD), we determine the spectral index, $p$, of the electrons' energy distribution. Both the theoretical calculations and numerical simulations of the particle acceleration in relativistic shocks show that $p$ has a universal value $\\approx 2.2-2.3$. We show that the observed distribution of $p$ during GRBs is not consistent with a $\\delta$-function distribution or an universal $p$ value, with the width of the distribution $\\ge$ 0.54. The distributions of $p$ during X-ray afterglows are also investigated and found to be inconsistent with a $\\delta$-function distribution. The $p$-distributions in blazars and pulsar wind nebulae are also broad, inconsistent with a $\\delta$-function distribution.

An increase in photocurrent has been observed at silicon electrodes coated with nanostructured porous silica films as compared to bare, unmodified silicon. Ultimately, to utilize this effect in devices such as sensors or microchip power supplies, the physical phenomena behind this observation need to be well characterized. To this end, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) was used to characterize the effect of surfactant-templated mesoporous silica films deposited onto silicon electrodes on the electrical properties of the electrode space-charge region in an aqueous electrolyte solution, as the electrical properties of this space-charge region are responsible for the photobehavior of semiconductor devices. A significant shift in apparent flat-band potential was observed for electrodes modified with the silica film when compared to bare electrodes; the reliability of this data is suspect, however, due to contributions from surface states to the overall capacitance of the system. To assist in the interpretation of this EIS data, a series of measurements at Pt electrodes was performed with the hope of decoupling electrode and film contributions from the EIS spectra. Surprisingly, the frequency-dependent impedance data for Pt electrodes coated with a surfactant-templated film was nearly identical to that observed for bare Pt electrodes, indicating that the mesoporous film had little effect on the transport of small electrolyte ions to the electrode surface. Pore-blocking agents (tetraalkylammonium salts) were not observed to inhibit this transport process. However, untemplated (non-porous) silica films dramatically increased film resistance, indicating that our EIS data for the Pt electrodes is reliable. Overall, our preliminary conclusion is that a shift in electrical properties in the space-charge region induced by the presence of a porous silica film is responsible for the increase in observed photocurrent.

These proceedings cover the fundamentals of electric vehicles. Papers on the design, testing and performance of the power supplies, drive trains, and bodies of solar and non-solar powered electric vehicles are presented. Results from demonstrations and races are described. Public policy on the economics and environmental impacts of using electric poweredvehicles is also presented.

The integration of variable renewable generation sources continues to be a significant area of focus for power system planning. Renewable portfolio standards and initiatives to reduce the dependency on foreign energy sources drive much of the deployment. Unfortunately, renewable energy generation sources like wind and solar tend to be highly variable in nature. To counter the energy imbalance caused by this variability, wind generation often requires additional balancing resources to compensate for the variability in the electricity production. With the expected electrification of transportation, electric vehicles may offer a new load resource for meeting all, or part, of the imbalance created by the renewable generation. This paper investigates a regulation-services-based battery charging method on a population of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to meet the power imbalance requirements associated with the introduction of 11 GW of additional wind generation into the Northwest Power Pool. It quantifies the number of vehicles required to meet the imbalance requirements under various charging assumptions.

Supercapacitors are devices for applications requiring high operating power levels, such as secondary powersources in electric vehicles (EVs) to provide peak power for acceleration and hill climbing. While electronically conducting polymers yield different redox supercapacitor configurations, devices with the n-doped polymer as the negative electrode and the p-doped polymer as the positive one are the most promising for EV applications. Indeed, this type of supercapacitor has a high operating potential, is able to deliver all the doping charge and, when charged, has both electrodes in the conducting (p- and n-doped) states. This study reports selection criteria for polymer materials and cell design for high performance EV supercapacitors and experimental results of selected polymer materials.

A thermoelectric generator for producing electric power for a motor vehicle from the heat of the exhaust gasses produced by the engine of the motor vehicle. The exhaust gasses pass through a finned heat transfer support structure which has seat positions on its outside surface for the positioning of thermoelectric modules. A good contact cylinder provides a framework from which a spring force can be applied to the thermoelectric modules to hold them in good contact on their seats on the surface of the heat transfer support structure.

The THINK city Electric Vehicle (EV) Demonstration Program Project, initiated late 2001, has been successfully completed as of April 2005. US. Partners include Federal, State and Municipal agencies as well as commercial partners. Phase I, consisting of placement of the vehicles in demonstration programs, was completed in 2002. Phase II, the monitoring of these programs was completed in 2004. Phase III, the decommissioning and/or exporting of vehicles concluded in 2005. Phase I--the Program successfully assigned 192 EV's with customers (including Hertz) in the state of California, 109 in New York (including loaner and demo vehicles), 16 in Georgia, 7 to customers outside of the US and 52 in Ford's internal operations in Dearborn Michigan for a total of 376 vehicles. The Program was the largest operating Urban EV Demonstration Project in the United States. Phase II--the monitoring of the operational fleet was ongoing and completed in 2004, and all vehicles were returned throughout 2004 and 2005. The Department of Energy (DOE) was involved with the monitoring of the New York Power Authority/THINK Clean Commute Program units through partnership with Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (ETEC), which filed separate reports to DOE. The remainder of the field fleet was monitored through Ford's internal operations. Vehicles were retired from lease operation throughout the program for various operator reasons. Some of the vehicles were involved in re-leasing operations. At the end of the program, 376 vehicles had been involved, 372 of which were available for customer use while 4 were engineering prototype and study vehicles. Phase III--decommissioning and/or export of vehicles. In accordance with the NHTSA requirement, City vehicles could not remain in the United States past their three-year allowed program timeframe. At the end of leases, City vehicles have been decommissioned and/or exported to KamKorp in Norway.